By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
The Eagles will break in a new bookend tackle this weekend in Washington, and according to head coach Doug Pederson, training against Fletcher Cox and the rest of Philly’s vicious defensive line has sufficiently prepared Halapoulivaata Vaitai to assume the key role.
Yesterday, Lane Johnson officially lost an elongated battle against the league regarding his ten-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy against performance-enhancing substances. The league upheld their original ruling against the two-time culprit, subsequently propelling Vaitai into the starting lineup for the foreseeable future.
"He is ready," Pederson said. "He's gone against our defensive front, not only through training camp but practiced against them every single day. Smart kid, athletic kid, strong kid. [I'm] excited to watch him play."
"Were not changing [the] game plan or anything like that. As you get into the football game, if you see a guy is needing some help, we can obviously help him with backs and tight ends as most teams will do. But if everything is going as planned then we'll just roll. The run game helps guys like that, especially in their first start, so we'll lean a little more on that maybe. It'll be monitored obviously, but a full week of practice with him, and he'll be fine."
Johnson, a former Oklahoma Sooner, also served a four-game suspension in 2014 for violating the banned substance policy. If caught again, he'll face a minimum suspension of two years.
This morning, Pederson shed some light on his parting words for the former No. 4 overall draft pick.
"Just wanted to express through myself, through [coach] Stout, [we're] just obviously disappointed," Pederson said. "We all are accountable for our actions. But at the same time, [we] look forward to getting him back in the facility in a few weeks."
"Lane has decided to go back to Oklahoma, go back to family and of course his school. We've set up some rehab through [Oklahoma] University to get his elbow [healed], and to keep him healthy."
The Andy Reid disciple was noncommittal on whether Johnson will resume starting at right tackle when his eligibility is reinstated.
"Right now, the timing of it is a little iffy because [he returns] the Thursday game against the Giants," Pederson said. "We just gotta make a decision at that point. See where he is physically, mentally, where we are as an offense, at that point, to make that decision. It's hard now sitting here to say he's got his job back, I just won't speculate that far, it's ten weeks away."
Barring injury, it seems far-fetched to believe Vaitai will not relinquish starting duties upon Johnson's return. While Pederson was guarded about who he expects to finish the season protecting Carson Wentz's front side, he did give a glimpse into team's the long-term plans for the exterior of his offensive line.
"Looking down the road, whenever [Jason Peters] steps aside, that's kind of the thought process is [Lane] goes to left [tackle] and "Big V" is your right side tackle," Pederson said.
You can watch the full press conference from Pederson below.
