Philadelphia Eagles’ Lane Johnson would hate playing for Patriots
It seems as though Lane Johnson would hate the idea of playing for the New England Patriots, who are viewed by many as the class of the NFL.
It’s long been called ‘The Patriots’ Way’. A collection of men, most of whom aren’t superstars, give up the idea of ‘me’ for the benefit of the team. That, in and of itself, doesn’t sound too bad, but Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro, and now Super Bowl winning, tackle Lane Johnson is looking a little bit deeper.
He doesn’t see the New England Patriots‘ organization as a place he’d like to play for. Johnson isn’t leaving Philly any time soon. Hopefully, he never will. His current deal has him signed through the 2021 NFL season, but even if he explored free agency then, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and their coach, Bill Belichick probably would have called it a career.
Still, had his chance to test the free agent market come a bit earlier, Johnson still doesn’t see the Patriots atmosphere as one that’s conducive to happiness.
Johnson discusses ‘The Patriots Way’.
Johnson appeared on the Pardon My Take podcast to discuss the Eagles Super Bowl victory and how much fun he had being a part of it. In his opinion, the Patriots, despite winning five Super Bowls recently, wouldn’t be able to say the same thing if they were to discuss their route to the Lombardi Trophy.
Take a look.
"I just think that The Patriot Way is a fear-based organization. Obviously, do they win? Hell yes, they win. They’ve won for a long time. Do I think people enjoy and can say, ‘I had a lot of fun playing there’? No, I don’t. That’s just the God’s honest truth. They’re successful, but when they go to interviews, they act like [expletive] robots. Hey, stop being a [expletive]head. We can be cordial for a little bit. You only get to do this job one time, so let’s have fun while we’re doing it. Not to be reckless, but I’d much rather have fun and win a Super Bowl than be miserable and win five Super Bowls. But hey, it is what it is."
The 2017 version of the Philadelphia Eagles may go down as one of the biggest groups of characters who possess tremendous amounts of character. This group of Eagles is and has been easy to like. That’s the case whether we discuss their humility, their efforts to improve the lives of others or the way they broke out ‘the electric slide’.
Lane Johnson and company fought and clawed their way to the Lombardi Trophy, and they had fun doing it. For Johnson that’s what it’s all about. Honestly, most of us would probably agree.
It’s just easier to go to work when you like what you do and you like the guys you work with.