Lane Johnson is not lacking confidence right now.
“I believe I am the best right tackle (in the NFL),” Johnson said Thursday night. “I just gotta stay healthy and keep that mentality.”
That’s what Eagles’ three-time Pro Bowl right tackle told me when I caught up with him virtually at his home in Oklahoma City on Thursday evening.
He’s not bragging, just merely stating facts. In recent years he’s gone head-to-head with the games premiere pass rushers and he hasn’t just neutralized them; he’s made them invisible in games.
Khalil Mack, J.J. Watt, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Von Miller, to name a few, have all been stonewalled by Johnson.
That’s why this past November the Eagles signed him to a four-year extension that made him the games highest paid offensive lineman in football.
Johnson, like the rest of us, is waiting patiently to get some normalcy back in his life. These days he spends his time mostly staying at home but occasionally getting out to go grocery shopping, fishing, and FaceTiming with a few of his offensive linemates. That includes his mentor Jason Peters, who is still a free agent.
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“I’ve talked to him a few times,” Johnson said. “I think in his heart he’d like to be back (with the Eagles). We’ll see what happens.”
Johnson would also add that while we navigate through this difficult time in our lives there’s a way you can make the most of it:
“Try to make some positives out of this. You can make a big impact as far as just talking to people, friends. You have a lot of empty time on your hands just choose wisely.”
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