Lane Johnson explains return for Year 14 amid a bunch of change

During the first 13 seasons of his Hall of Fame career, Lane Johnson has experienced a ton of different things in the NFL.

But this is new for him.

Johnson, 36, decided to return for Year 14 in 2026 but will continue his career without legendary offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who stepped away from the team this offseason. Stout has since been replaced by Chris Kuper as the Eagles revamp their offensive scheme under new OC Sean Mannion.

“It was a shocking ordeal for me,” Johnson said on Tuesday of Stoutland’s departure. “But after being in the league all these years, you can kind of see when things aren’t going the way that we want to. For me, I’m trying to learn a new offense and do the best I can with that.

“As far as replacing Stout, it’s going to be hard to replace that kind of guy in my life, being the mentor and my coach all these years. But with how our system is right now, there’s a lot to learn. I really like Coach Kuper a lot. And so I think hopefully our offense won’t be as stagnant as what it was last year, we’ll be able to evolve some.”

During the offseason, Johnson contemplated retirement as most players his age do, but ultimately decided to return for this upcoming season. He said his thoughts of retirement have more to do with the enticement of getting more time with his family.

But, ultimately, Johnson still loves playing football. And he didn’t want his career to end with an injury.

“I didn’t want to go out that way,” Johnson said at mandatory minicamp.

Johnson suffered a Lisfranc sprain against the Lions on Nov. 16 last year and missed the final eight games of the season, including the playoff loss. Johnson said he felt a pop on the first play of the game against the Lions and on the next series, he realized something was really wrong. But the good news at the time was that Johnson didn’t need surgery and the hope was that he would return at some point later that season.

That hope remained into the playoffs, when Johnson was planning on returning for the wild-card round game against the 49ers. But that week during practice, his foot began to swell up again, limiting his mobility. And he just couldn’t go.

“I’ve been able to play through stuff throughout the years but this was just something that took time,” Johnson said. “That’s something that I didn’t have at that point of the season. It was probably around February, March when I started to feel 100% but it took some time for it to heal up. I didn’t want to go out on that note last year.”

Johnson is healthy this spring and seems a bit rejuvenated by the Eagles’ offensive scheme change. While Johnson will undoubtedly miss Stoutland, the only OL coach he’s had in his NFL career, he is excited about some of the new elements coming to the Eagles’ offense.

Even a new O-line coach.

“Hey man, I’m about it,” Johnson said. “Coach Kuper played for lots of years in the league. Not only coming to me as a coach but as a player, I have a lot of respect for him. Super smart. I just think how this offense here will help us. I think just stretching the field, stressing the defense more. I think it’ll help us with our run blocking angles. I think it’ll help us some in pass pro. 

“I’ve never had any guard help all these years. It’s always been 1-on-1 so having the ability to be inside and having the guard come out and help me is a big deal for me. Me likey. Very excited. That’s pretty cool.”

Being in the NFL for over a decade, Johnson has admired this Shanahan/Kubiak style of offense from afar and he’s now excited to see what it can do for the offense in Philly. He expects this new system to take advantage of the Eagles’ athleticism up front and to put additional stress on defenses.

Johnson said he always envied players who got to play in this system.

“Here I am after all these years getting a chance,” Johnson said. “Not to say we’re going to be better. There’s a lot to learn but I think we have the ability to be more than what we were last year. Be a lot more than what we were in the run game and I think that’s going to open up the pass game too.”