The Eagles entered the offseason with just one of their four cornerstone linemen under contract, but Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce have since signed new deals. The other member of this quartet, Lane Johnson, has since followed suit.
Philadelphia’s 11th-year right tackle agreed to a fourth contract with the team Friday morning. Johnson signed an extension that runs through 2026, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. The former first-round pick was already under contract through 2025, making this a one-year bump. But Johnson will collect a chunk of guaranteed money and reduce his 2023 cap hit in the process.
Johnson’s new deal includes $30MM guaranteed, Schefter adds, noting this can be classified as a one-year, $33.45MM accord. The agreement will reduce Johnson’s 2023 cap hit by more than $9MM, according to NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo (on Twitter). The All-Pro blocker was set to carry a $24.2MM 2023 cap number. This new signing bonus will drop that cap figure to approximately $14.8MM. The next two years of Johnson’s contract are now guaranteed, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane tweets.
Graham, Cox and Kelce each agreed to new one-year contracts this month. Johnson is the only member of Philly’s core four signed beyond 2023, and his agreement will help the team afford the deals for his veteran teammates. The Eagles are the rare team with four players drafted 10-plus years ago still on the roster, and this contract does not necessarily lock in Johnson through 2026, as that will be his age-36 season. But it rewards a player who played at a high level through a significant injury to close last season.
Johnson, 32, is recovering from offseason adductor surgery. The Oklahoma alum played through a torn adductor in the playoffs, tabling surgery until after Super Bowl LVII. Although Johnson’s 2022 regular season wrapped after 15 games, he earned his second first-team All-Pro honor. The dominant right-sider has not given up a sack in two seasons.
The Eagles had already adjusted Johnson’s contract — a four-year, $72MM deal agreed to in November 2019 — a whopping four times. Three void years are already attached to the deal. While one of those is no longer a dummy year, Johnson’s deal technically runs through 2028 for cap purposes.
Graham, 35, agreed to a one-year deal worth $5MM. Kelce, 35, is back for a 14th season, signing a one-year extension worth $14.25MM. The Eagles let Cox, 32, hit free agency, but he is back on a one-year, $10MM accord. Although injuries and early-career PED issues have interfered with Johnson’s NFL path, he has managed to remain an elite lineman into his 30s. Johnson has missed six regular-season games over the past two years, bouncing back after missing nine in 2020. The Eagles, who lost veteran starter Isaac Seumalo to the Steelers late last week, will still return four starting O-linemen.
I’m not sure any of the big 3 sports have it right, with mlb basically being a pay to win and the nba controlled by stars and big markets, but while a hard salary cap like the nfl seems like it makes the most sense, the way they do is easily the most confusing. How the eagles can have a team with 50 mill in dead money is mind bottling.
Go to spotrac and look at their team a couple years out. They are completely F’ed, but they will try for another run before Hurts gets his deal.
It’s accounting strategy, They build in void years in part to pace out their spending. It’s not much different than giving a 10-year contract to a shortstop you don’t expect to play well for more than seven years to help avoid luxury tax. And the dead money and more bloated cap hits don’t outweigh the savings in their core. They have their QB, top two WRs, TE, LT, LG, and top two pass rushers playing 2023 for a grand total under $48.5 million. Even once they pay Hurts, they’ll be fine. It helps to have an extra first this year and an extra second next.
Really dumb and not worth the risk guaranteeing $30M…he will be 36 at that time. Just look at Tyron Smith and how he has broken down in his career.
Tyron Smith started breaking down when he was 26.
He played RT with Jason Peters opposite him at LT for years, Peters continued excelling into his late 30s and is still playing in his 40s. Lane has kept himself in great physical condition.
Lane is goated tho
The cap keeps going up. Every team runs into a year where they need to retool or not spend much in an off-season to get caught up. If the eagles could survive the dead cap hit of Wentz, and make it back to a superbowl, I trust Howie knows what he’s doing. We maintain our draft picks every year instead of just trading them all away like the rams did. They’ll be fine
Lane does this every year. Good for him. Good for the team.
2x steroid offender. And he has a false start on every single passing play. I hate everything about this a-hole
link to si.com
What a beast! Still on top of his game.
Only OT to not allow a sack in 2021:
– Lane Johnson
Only OT to not allow a sack in 2022:
– Lane Johnson
2036 snaps. 0 sacks.
#Eagles (min 50% of max snaps)
We know Lane isn’t miserable.