3 Philadelphia Eagles with much to gain following Lane Johnson injury

Lane Johnson’s ride with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 is over. Now what?

There’s an old saying that has nothing to do with football, but it totally applies in this case. Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. At this point, you have to start using words like ‘stubborn’ whenever you’re discussing the Philadelphia Eagles and the way they handle their roster construction.

Kicking the tires on veterans that no one else wants has never worked (DeSean Jackson, Darren Sproles, Jay Ajayi), yet they continue to do so (Corey Clement, Vinny Curry, Jason Peters, Jordan Howard). The results, as you might imagine, are minimal.

Then, there’s this decision with Lane Johnson. Though it was clear that he was injured, Philly let him play through it, you know, as they did with DeSean Jackson a season ago. Perhaps, had they decided to have D-Jax go under the knife early in 2019, he would have been ready at season’s end for a potential playoff run. They didn’t, and we’ll never know what might have happened.

Playing the DeSean Jackson role in 2020 is Johnson. 65 probably should have had surgery earlier. He didn’t, and now, following his latest ankle injury, he’s done for the current campaign. Now what? At what point does it cease to be a warrior playing through the pain and it becomes a huge risk for the franchise?

Does this mean that we’ve seen Lane Johnson in an Eagles jersey for the final time? Well, let’s not jump the gun, but someone needs to step up. Here are three Birds with much to gain with 65 on the sideline.