Philadelphia Eagles: Light a prayer candle for Lane Johnson’s ankle

The Philadelphia Eagles are putting a season’s worth of trust in Johnson’s ankle.

Outside of Carson Wentz, Darius Slay, Jason Kelce, and maybe Fletcher Cox, Lane Johnson is, without a doubt, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ most irreplaceable player.

Is that open for debate? Sure. Maybe you really like Zach Ertz, or you’re a Rodney McLeod kinda guy, but I think it’s pretty safe to say the Eagles would be in rather dire straights without any of these well-traveled veteran performers suiting up for game day on any given week this fall, right?

Well, unfortunately, it looks like the Birds will be in that very situation with Oklahoma’s favorite son for the foreseeable future.

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Initially listed as day-to-day for the Eagles’ Week 1 trip to FedExField in Prince George’s County, Maryland, for the better part of a month, Johnson has been downgraded to questionable after being labeled a limited participant for Saturday’s walkthrough practice.

Do you know who else was labeled questionable? Derek Barnett and Miles Sanders, both of whom have been officially ruled out against Washington.

So what gives? Is Johnson also going to land on the injury report Sunday morning as well? Are the Eagles going to finally seal the deal with somehow-still-not-signed veteran tackle Cordy Glenn (more on him here)? Does anyone, like literally anyone at all, feel comfortable with Jordan Mailata, Jack Driscoll, or even starting right guard Matt Pryor having to start at right tackle then they collectively made Josh Sweat look like a rising star on the left side in practice?

This could end up being really, really bad for the boys in midnight green, and honestly even if Johnson does play in Week 1, it’s not like he’ll be a sure thing for Week 2.

In the NFL, any snap can end a player’s season or even career. A defensive lineman can fall awkwardly on a tackle’s calf, a miscalculated backpedal can lead to a dislocated ankle, and an Achillies can seemingly snap at any point with no real rhyme or reason. Need proof? Ask Brandon Brooks, who suffered his Achillies injury on a non-contact combine-style drill.

In this regard, quite literally every player on the Eagles roster could be balling out on one play and gone indefinitely the next. Still, when you’ve got a player like Johnson already suffering through a lingering lower-body injury – which in and of itself is the sort of vague description Philly fans have become all too familiar with – it’s like going into every game with a timebomb at right tackle; maybe they can squeak out a game, a month, or even a full season without it going off, but if it does, boy howdy could things go south in a hurry.

Knowing full well that Johnson has been hobbled for much of training camp, the Eagles really should have focused on ensuring they had adequate depth at one of the most important positions in all of football just in case something goes south. They passed on ex-Jets tackle Kelvin Beachum, who signed a one-year, $1.18 million deal with the Cardinals. They’ve basically passed on signing Cordy Glenn, who again, somehow came to Philly on a three-day workout that resulted in Jason Peters earning a bigger payday – take from that what you will. Outside of drafting a pair of tackles on Day 3 out of Auburn – one of whom didn’t even make the active roster – the Eagles have effectively washed their hands at having a proven backup tackle into the fray.

But why? Even before Peters returned on a one-year deal, it’s not like Andre Dillard was a sure thing at left tackle. I get trying to save money to roll over into 2021 but at what point does that become a detriment to the very concept of winning?

So Philadelphia Eagles fans, if you’re reading this, please keep Lane Johnson in mind when your favorite team takes the field on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Maybe even light one of those fun prayer candles sold throughout the city at various shops, religious or not. Why? Because prayer is about all we have to keep the Eagles from having to resort to a very ugly collection of second-tier tackles to keep Carson Wentz upright for the better part of a season. *sigh* Why plan ahead when you can just… not, I guess?