March 19, 2025
Lane Johnson will keep going.
In 2022, the All-Pro right tackle said he wanted to play a couple of more years, then after the 2023 season, a couple turned into a "few good years left" in him.
On Monday, Johnson signed a one-year contract extension to keep him as an Eagle through 2027, when he'll be 37.
But he feels good right now, Johnson told the media during a video press conference on Wednesday, and as this past season's run to the Super Bowl showed, he can still very much play at an elite level.
"I think when you get to this stage of your career, you take it year by year. But physically, I feel really good," Johnson said of his belief in being able to play out the remainder of his contract. "I was thinking a few years ago, when I was coming back from all these surgeries that I thought my body was going to start failing or going downhill."
It's been the opposite instead.
Johnson credited that to the Eagles' conditioning and offseason programs, as well as work on his own training goals and specific areas of focus with each passing spring.
He kept getting stronger, but as he got older, flexibility became a priority, too – with LeBron James, who's still a star in the NBA even at age 40, and Cuban wrestler Mijaín López, who won his fifth Olympic gold medal last summer, serving as the inspirations.
"A lot of players as they age, they lose that ability to explode and to burst," Johnson said. "So when I look at athletes, you see what LeBron's doing, I've seen what some Olympic athletes have done...You know, there's a guy in Cuba, Mijaín López, that won his fifth gold medal at 41, so there are people that are able to go past the barriers or perceived barriers.
"I look to guys and athletes like that as inspiration, and just to know that it's possible."
And knowing that, the 35-year-old Johnson will play on, but doing so in a bit of a new chapter for the Eagles.
Longtime defensive end Brandon Graham announced his retirement on Tuesday after 15 years and two Super Bowl titles, and the year prior, both Jason Kelce (a nearly assured Hall of Fame center) and Fletcher Cox (a veteran star pass rusher of 12 years) hung up their cleats, too.
For years, they were the Eagles' core. But now Johnson is the last one left, and the one carrying the torch as the longest-tenured member of the team while the reins continually transfer over to the newer, current nucleus led by Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts.
"It'll be a little bit different," Johnson said. "Even with Kelce gone this year, it'll be another piece with BG, the same way it was with Fletch. The good thing about it is if they're not here in the building, they'll be close by...I'm happy for these guys to make a new transition into something else, and, yeah, I'm very happy to be a part of their journey and getting to witness everything that they've achieved."
At some point, he will join them.
But he's not planning on it for another few years.
"As long as I'm feeling good and I feel like I can contribute, I think I'll continue to play," Johnson said.
Brothers for life!🤞 Competed against each other every single day. Gonna miss you in that locker room @brandongraham55. Well-deserved retirement BG pic.twitter.com/YNd7WQJ8zP
— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) March 18, 2025
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