Lane Johnson has been saying that he has a few more years left for a while now, and that's not out of a feeling that he can still play, but of a belief that he still hasn't turned in his very best yet.
And yeah, he knows he's 35, and exactly how it sounded explaining that to the press at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday. Even so…
"Now I feel like I'm getting close to maybe my peak," the veteran right tackle said after the Eagles' mandatory minicamp practice. "As weird as it is to say, that's really how I feel."
Not that you'll find anyone in Philadelphia complaining about that.
Johnson's 2024 turned in a sixth Pro Bowl nod, Second Team All-Pro honors, and above all, a second Super Bowl title as he continued to anchor the best offensive line in football, along with its most potent rushing attack, through another 19 games.
And he did that all in Year 12 at age 34.
Conventional wisdom dictates that a player usually gets injured more and declines with age, especially when their position is within the trenches.
Johnson, however, has gone the opposite way, calling back to his progress made ever since his return in 2021 from a persisting ankle injury and resulting surgery.
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"I feel like I'm better than what I was when I was 29-30," he said. "I had the surgery, and the toughest year for me was the games that I missed in '21. You can clearly see on film, if you go back and watch it, I was very injured in my left foot."
Yet he was still an elite offensive lineman on the Eagles' way to a surprise playoff berth that season, which rolled straight into the team's 2022 breakout into a Super Bowl contender when, even with a torn adductor, he kept 49ers star pass rusher Nick Bosa locked down in the NFC Championship.
Now? The bill of health is clean (well, relatively in the NFL), he signed a one-year extension in March to stay an Eagle through 2027 (when he'll be 37), and all signs point to him still going, strong as ever – and for the second time in his career, with a title to defend.
His best might still be out there. He believes it.
"They need to do a combine for guys 10 years over," Johnson joked. "See how they do compared to 10 years ago."
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