Major Changes On Eagles Offensive Line

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

On Friday afternoon, Lane Johnson told the media that the inside of his ankle collapsed.

Johnson has struggled to stay on the field and perform at a high level this year following his ankle getting cleaned out. Now, his season will be done as he was never able to fully recover.

The Eagles will certainly place Johnson on IR shortly when they make their roster moves ahead of this week’s Monday night game.

The team will likely place rookie Jack Driscoll in at the right tackle position, however he has been dealing with injuries of his own. If he cannot go, undrafted second-year man Brett Toth would be the next man up.

At the other tackle position, the Eagles will reportedly be moving Jason Peters, who was absolutely awful last week, inside to right guard as the team has struggled to get any consistent play out of the position outside Isaac Seumalo.

How Peters fairs at right guard is yet to be seen, but he will still be making the same amount of money that he demanded a raise for to switch to left tackle.

The Eagles will put Jordan Mailata, the impressive former rugby player, back at left tackle in the mean time.

With the Eagles season essentially lost and little hope that the team can make any noise even if they were to make the playoffs, these moves are beneficial to the team’s long-term outlook.

Shutting down Johnson ensures that he, along with Brandon Brooks, should be healthy to return in 2021.

Meanwhile, Jordan Mailata developing into a true left tackle would give the Eagles a huge benefit and the ability to re-sign a young and budding player while the development of Jack Driscoll (or Brett Toth) could provide the team with a clear top option at swing tackle.

It could make it so that a team with a top-10 pick in the draft has just one clear need on the offensive line: backup interior OL.

The team got some good play out of Nate Herbig, but the play of Sua Opeta and Matt Pryor has not been anything to write home about, so unless one of the trio truly steps up in practice, none is likely to see the field this year until further injuries occur.

Without Johnson in the lineup, the Eagles have lost more than twice as often than they win. The team will roll out it’s 11th starting offensive line of the season on Monday.