Eagles tackle Fred Johnson says it’s ‘time to show what I can do’ as he fills in for Lane Johnson again

Nick Sirianni’s message for Fred Johnson during his annual meeting when he explains each player’s role on the team was pretty simple.

The Eagles had just reacquired Johnson via trade at the end of training camp. They weren’t comfortable with their depth at tackle, and Johnson’s quest to be a starter when he signed with Jacksonville in free agency had not gone as planned.

The message, and the role: “Be ready for when your number’s called,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “You just never know when that’s going to be, and that’s every backup. Every guy’s one snap away from going in. We have a lot of faith in [Johnson].”

The role, Johnson said, was “the same role as last year. Be ready to go at any moment.”

The moment, once again, has come.

The Eagles and Johnson have been here before. Last season, Johnson started five games as a fill-in for Lane Johnson (once) and Jordan Mailata (four times), and he has come on in relief of Lane Johnson multiple times this season. But while Fred Johnson’s role is the same, and he’s being called on once again to fill in for Lane Johnson — who will likely hit injured reserve and miss at least the next four games with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot — he doesn’t want a repeat of last year.

There were things he “would have taken back,” he said. He felt as if he was just waiting for the starters in front of him to come back rather than trying to seize the opportunity.

“Lane Johnson is cemented in stone as one of the greats,” Fred Johnson said. “Fred Johnson is still trying to make a name for himself.

“Now is my time to show what I can do.”

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He has been a reliable backup for the Eagles so far. Four times this season, he has been asked to come in at right tackle to replace Lane Johnson, the Eagles’ perennial Pro Bowler.

The Eagles first added Fred Johnson as a practice squad member in November 2022. In addition to filling in, he has been used as an extra blocker in the Eagles’ jumbo package this season.

“There’s a reason why we were putting him into playing those big packages because we have a lot of faith in him,” Sirianni said. “For what we were trying to do, we felt like he was one of our best 11 to do what we were trying to do on those particular plays.”

It is no secret that the Eagles are a worse football team without Lane Johnson. They are 12-23 since the beginning of the 2016 season in games he doesn’t start. Fred Johnson, though, has at least provided some reliable backup play over the last two seasons.

But some of the numbers show a big difference. The offense’s struggles, particularly in the running game, are well documented at this point. But when the Eagles do choose to run behind Lane Johnson — something they probably should do with more frequency — they have found success. According to Next Gen Stats, the Eagles average 4.6 yards on their 84 designed runs to the right side with Lane Johnson on the field. That average drops to 2.4 yards on 40 runs to the right side with him off the field.

Pass protection sees a similar drop-off.

According to Pro Football Focus, Lane Johnson has allowed seven pressures (and no sacks) on 262 pass-blocking snaps, a pressure rate of 2.67%. Fred Johnson, meanwhile, has also allowed seven pressures, but on 77 pass-blocking snaps, a pressure rate of 9.09%.

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The Eagles will need to make adjustments, or live with the fact that their already-struggling offense is going to find improvements hard to come by for the duration of Lane Johnson’s absence.

“Lane’s one of the best players in the NFL, so it makes you do a couple different things here and there,” Sirianni said. “With that being said, I have a lot of faith in the guys with Fred. … We need all hands on deck. We’ve had a lot of guys play, so a lot of experience doing that, not just with Lane, but with every position.”

Fred Johnson, 28, said knowing he is starting changes little except getting more first-team reps in practice. He prepares to play every week.

“Fred knows the drill,” Mailata said. “Fred knows what’s going on, what we’re going to ask of him.”

Mailata said he sees a difference this year in the backup’s mindset and how he approaches the game plan each week. He thought Fred Johnson’s size and skills would have landed him a starting job and was excited to have the “extra-extrovert” back in the building when the Eagles traded him for after camp.

“We got lucky,” Mailata said. “We got really lucky.”

Maybe Fred Johnson did, too. For the next stretch of games, he’ll have another chance to, as he said, show what he can do. He wants the 2025 version to be better than the 2024 version. He thought he “left some meat on the bone” last time around.

“I don’t want nobody to see a down step in physicality, execution, things like that that Lane does day in and day out,” he said. “I want people to forget that I’m even on the field.”