Eagles RT Lane Johnson To Retire

Johnson, 36, had indicated this offseason the 2026 season would probably be his last. He explained in a retirement post why his plan changed from a retirement after the season to one that comes three games into it.

“I deeply wanted to gut it out for one more year; to take the field with my brothers for one last season,” Johnson said. “But after a lot of reflection, I’ve realized my personal and family priorities have changed. Right now, it is important that I focus on my mental health. I owe it to my teammates, coaches, the organization and the fans to have my heart 100 percent in the game. And right now my heart is telling me that it’s time to say goodbye to football.”

This concludes one of the great careers in Eagles history. The last of the team’s “Core Four” linemen to retire — following Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham — Johnson will call it quits after earning five All-Pro honors and making six Pro Bowl rosters. Johnson joined Graham in being part of two Super Bowl-winning rosters.

Graham retired (for a second time) this summer, while Kelce and Cox hung up their cleats following the 2023 season. Johnson’s latest Eagles contract — a one-year, $25MM extension — ran through the 2027 campaign. Drafting Johnson fourth overall in 2013, the Eagles signed him to four extensions. Johnson’s presence was vital to the Eagles’ success — from their improbable Nick Foles-quarterbacked Super Bowl LII-winning conclusion to Saquon Barkley’s 2,000-yard season — but injuries were a frequent occurrence for the Oklahoma product.

Two tackles went ahead of Johnson in the 2013 draft — Eric Fisher (No. 1 overall) and Luke Joeckel (No. 2) — but the former Big 12 standout proved to be the best player from what is considered a disappointing first round. A few players from that draft remain active, and one surefire Hall of Famer (Travis Kelce) emerged from that class. Johnson is a good bet to join the Chiefs tight end in Canton down the road. Because Johnson played three games this season, he would not be eligible for the Hall until 2032.

When the Eagles drafted Johnson, a future as an eventual Jason Peters left tackle successor was in play. But Johnson established himself as one of this century’s best right tackles, moving the Eagles to leave him there. Making 171 career regular-season starts and 15 more in the playoffs, Johnson joined Peters and Jason Kelce as Eagles O-line pillars. The franchise continued to extend or re-sign all three, and the duo played together for eight seasons. Peters joined the Bears in 2021, while Kelce and Johnson were part of Philadelphia’s Super Bowl LVII squad in 2022. Johnson became the last man standing after Kelce’s 2024 exit.

Johnson battled injuries for most of his career and incurred two PED suspensions over his first four seasons. The Eagles certainly felt those Johnson absences, performing far better with the stalwart RT in the lineup compared to when he missed games. Philly went 93-41-1 with Johnson available since 2017 (h/t The Athletic’s Zach Berman and Brooks Kubena) compared to 13-21 when he was inactive.

The Eagles drafted Johnson after the Dolphins traded in front of them to nab ex-Chip Kelly Oregon pass rusher Dion Jordan. That became the Eagles’ gain during a top 10 that is widely regarded as one of the most disappointing in modern draft history. Johnson was part of an Eagles playoff team in Kelly’s first season, and after a retooling effort that moved GM Howie Roseman back to the top of the front office (after Kelly held personnel power in 2015), the Eagles counted on their RT to help Carson Wentz and then Foles in 2017.

Wentz was motoring toward MVP honors before a December 2017 ACL tear. The Foles-piloted Eagles were then underdogs in each of their three playoff games, but the team “upset” the Falcons and Vikings before toppling the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. The Philly Special play featured a memorable Johnson cameo, as Foles shouted to the right tackle ahead of the Eagles’ historic trick-play touchdown to close the first half in the franchise’s first Super Bowl win.

After giving Johnson a five-year, $56.25MM extension in 2016, Roseman handed him a four-year, $72MM payday in November 2019. At the time, that $18MM-per-year number represented a high-water mark for all O-linemen. The left tackle market — aided by Laremy Tunsil’s leverage following his Miami-to-Houston trade — caught up with Johnson, but the Eagles extended him twice more. He secured a four-year, $80MM deal shortly after Super Bowl LVII, and the team gave him the aforementioned 1/25 top-off — which provided more guaranteed money — in March 2025.

Johnson started 15 games during the Eagles’ initial Super Bowl-winning season, with his presence proving vital after Peters went down midseason, and he was available for 15 contests in 2022 and ’24. The latter season brought a resurgence, as Barkley won Offensive Player of the Year acclaim after clearing 2,000 rushing yards in 16 games, and Johnson was obviously pivotal — for a unit that lost Kelce to retirement — in the Eagles dominating the Commanders and Chiefs to close their Super Bowl LIX-winning campaign.

Prior to the 2025 season, Johnson had voiced an expectation he would play out his $25MM-per-year contract by going through his age-37 season. But a Lisfranc sprain ended his ’25 slate last November. That prompted Johnson to consider retirement this offseason, along with left guard Landon Dickerson. Both players returned, but only Dickerson remains on the roster ahead of Week 5.

Johnson had also suffered two known concussions since 2017, and two high ankle sprains and a knee sprain kept him off the field in that time as well. Hip and groin maladies, respectively, affected Johnson’s availability during the 2022 and ’23 seasons. He also missed three games in 2021 while stepping away from the team for mental health purposes.

Right tackles and Pro Bowl honors often do not mix, with the oft-adjusted all-star game regularly overlooking the position in favor of higher-profile LT invites. But Johnson sports one of the most impressive résumés at the position in modern NFL history. Johnson’s six Pro Bowl invites are the most of any RT over the past 30 years. Penei Sewell and Hall of Fame candidate Willie Anderson are the only other primary RTs with four such honors in that span. Sewell, who has since moved to left tackle in Detroit, eclipsed Johnson in AAV back in 2024. Because of his move to LT, however, Johnson retired as the league’s highest-paid RT.

Anderson’s plight reminds how difficult journeys to Canton can be for right tackles. The last pure RT to be enshrined as a non-senior candidate was Jackie Slater, who received induction in 2001. Considering Johnson’s impact on the Eagles’ trajectory, he represents a strong candidate to break through here. Johnson retires with just more than $166MM in career earnings. Only Kelce, Cox and Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins made more starts as an Eagle than Johnson.