It has been a strange offseason for the Philadelphia Eagles. Training camp doesn’t feel much different.
The news took a dark turn on Tuesday when reports came out that starting right tackle Lane Johnson, the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft, will be suspended 10 games.
Johnson now has been suspended twice, hence the extended leave. He was suspended for the four games of the 2014 for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. It’s not known if Johnson plans to appeal.
When he has played, starting all 44 games he was eligible to play in, Johnson has been mostly excellent, even shifting over to left tackle for two games while Jason Peters was hurt. Despite the previous suspension, the Eagles even signed Johnson to a five-year extension worth up to $63 million, with $35.5 million in guarantees, back in January.
Clearly, this has to frustrate an Eagles front office and coaching staff that’s trying to wipe away the bad vibes of a lost 2015 season and also having shed other dead money in the past several months. But based on the terms of the extension, the Eagles might be able to keep from paying out a portion of that $35.5 million based on the suspension.
Johnson has put the team in a tough spot. If there’s a tiny silver lining it’s the there are only three division games in those first 10 games, but six of those contests would be on the road. If the suspension holds up, Johnson would be eligible to return Week 12 — a Monday night home game against the Green Bay Packers.
The Eagles released their first depth chart of the summer on Monday, and Johnson’s backups were listed as Dennis Kelly and Halapoulivaati Vaitai. Kelly, a fifth-round pick in 2012, replaced Johnson at right tackle when he shifted over last season and also has played guard. Of Kelly’s 15 starts in four seasons, nine have come at right tackle. Vaitai was a fifth-rounder this year, a two-time All Big 12 player out of TCU who played left and right tackle in college.
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