Eagles Right Tackle Discusses Future, Leadership Role With Jason Kelce Retired

Lane Johnson is 34 and has watched two close friends retire, but his body feels good, and feels like he has some good years left.

Dec 31, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson (65) reacts against the Arizona Cardinals at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA – Lane Johnson feels so good, he is confident he has “some really good years left.”

“My body feels really good,” he said on Tuesday as the Eagles opened their three-day mandatory minicamp. “I couldn’t say that a few years ago. I was really worried about some things, but I put in a lot of work and feel really good. I’m hoping, I’m in my mid 30s, I can do what few guys can, which is play well and keep that level.”

That doesn’t mean he will play forever, obviously. He can see the light at the end of the tunnel, especially with the offseason retirements of Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox, two players he spent his entire career playing sharing a locker room and field.

“As you get older, you try to, I guess, appreciate the time you have,” he said. “I’ve said that in previous seasons, but yeah, it’s been a transition not seeing (Kelce), Fletch in the building. I still got BG (Brandon Graham), but yeah definitely a huge transition.”

Lane Johnson meets reporters during Day 1 of the Philadelphia Eagles mandatory minicamp on June 4, 2024. / Ed Kracz

The good news for the Eagles is Johnson, now 34, is back for the foreseeable future, because, as it has been pointed out several times in the past, the team has a losing record whenever he is injured and out of the lineup at his right tackle spot due to injury.

It’s also good because the Eagles’ offensive line has been in flux the last two years, losing right guard Isaac Seumalo two years ago in free agency and center Jason Kelce to retirement this past offseason.

It never gets easier for Johnson, or any athlete who takes the turn into their 30s, to play at the same elite level they exhibit during their 20s. Johnson, though, has a team of people helping him.

“As guys get older, they lose athleticism, they lose flexibility,” he said. “I’m trying not to lose any of that. I’m trying to look like I did when I was 27. It’s hard. It’s something I work on every day.

“I work with a strength staff, my trainer back home, so, yeah, I’m trying to stay the same, stay consistent and my job now is bring the young pups with me.”

The young pups include a pair of draft picks in Trevor Keegan and Dylan McMahon and undrafted linemen Gottlieb Ayedze, Laekin Vakalahi, and Anim Dankwah.

That’s where Johnson’s leadership comes into play. Without Kelce around, Johnson doesn’t plan on doing any more than he already does.

“I’m not a big talker or rah-rah, any of that before games,” he said. “Just during the course of the week, I feel like there’s a lot of young players that need to get into the routine and develop, so just like Jason Peters did for me, I’m trying to pass it down.

“How Todd Herremans treated me, treat these new guys good so they feel comfortable and play fast right away. That’s how I’ve been for the past few years.”

Johnson may not realize it, but line coach Jeff Stoutland has already seen his right tackle up his leadership game.

“Right away I saw him working with the young players - right away,” said Stoutland. “As soon as everybody got back. Not that he’s not done that before, but a little more – more and consistently.”

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