Lane Johnson sends scary message on whether he has reached his peak

Typically, when an NFL player reaches the age of 35, they are entering the twilight of their career. This is not the case for Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson.

At minicamp, NBC Sports Philadelphia Eagles reporter Reuben Frank shared Johnson's response to how he feels entering the season. The scary part? He feels he's only going to get better.

“Now, I feel like even though I'm 35, I feel better than I was when I started (or when I was) 29 or 30,” Johnson said after a recent OTA practice. “I had the (ankle) surgeries and so for me the toughest year was ’21 and you can go back and watch it, you can clearly see on film, I was very hindered with my left foot. 

“And now, I feel like I'm getting close to maybe my peak. As weird as it is to say, but that's truly how I feel.

The truth is in the puddling for Johnson

The former fourth overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft, Johnson's 12 seasons with the Eagles has shown that he really does age like fine wine. Through his first four seasons in the NFL, Johnson did not make the Pro Bowl and missed 14 games in that span.

Philadelphia's 2017 Super Bowl title run was the breakout season for Johnson as he made his first Pro Bowl and would go on quite a run after that. He would get selected to six Pro Bowls and All-Pro teams. Johnson was apart of three Super Bowl appearances with two of them being Super Bowl titles.

One concern with Johnson is he has a tendency to missing at least one game due to some kind of injury each year. Johnson has only played every game twice in his career: in 2013 and 2015.

The notion that Johnson will only get better is unlikely, but history has shown that Eagles linemen can maintain a high level of play for a long time. More recent examples include Jason Kelce and Jason Peters, who both played in the NFL for over 10 years and were making Pro Bowls with the Eagles in their 30s.

At this rate, Johnson might have five more years under him if he wants to keep playing. The Eagles will have no problem pay the future Hall of Famer.