The groin surgery that Lane Johnson delayed so he could be part of the Eagles’ postseason run happened on Thursday, just four days after the Eagles fell to the Kansas City Chiefs, 38-35, in Super Bowl LVII.
The right tackle tweeted a photo of him lying in a bed wearing a hospital gown.
Johnson, who may very well be the best right tackle in football, suffered a tear in his adductor muscle late in the regular season. He chose to treat the injury and fight his way through it rather than having surgery.
The recovery is expected to last 10 to 12 weeks, which likely will keep him out of any on-field activities until training camp opens again in July, though he could possibly participate in limited fashion during the team's offseason conditioning programs.
This is the third surgery Johnson will have had since the summer of 2020 when he had tightrope surgery on his ankle. He also had a second surgery on the ankle that fall.
Whatever he did to be ready to play through this latest injury worked, because Johnson seemed just as effective in the Eagles’ two playoff wins and Super Bowl.
He still did not allow a sack and now has not done so since Week 10 of the 2020 season.
He said his first game back, against the New York Giants, was more difficult from a pain standpoint than his second game against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
In the Super Bowl, despite a slippery field, Johnson stood tall again to negate any Chiefs pressure.
He tried to keep his process the same during the week in Arizona leading up to Super Bowl.
“Work with the trainers during the day then do more work after that, working on my lower body for strength and flexibility and try to get those muscles around (the injured groin) so it’s strong enough to support it,” he said last week. “It’s not very fun stuff but effective.”
Johnson, who will turn 33 in May, said at the Super Bowl he would like to play two more years and then see how he feels beyond that.
His contract runs through 2025 and has steep salary cap hits over the next three years, including $24.1 million in 2023, an increase of the $11M he counted against the 2022 cap.
With a big contract looming for quarterback Jalen Hurts, a restructure could be in place this offseason for Johnson.
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