Lane Johnson is retiring. The Philadelphia Eagles’ longtime right tackle, who missed the team’s Week 4 game for personal reasons, announced he is stepping away three games into his 14th NFL season.
Johnson, 36, had said during the offseason that the 2026 campaign would probably be his last. In a retirement post explaining why the timeline moved up, he wrote that his personal and family priorities have changed and that he needs to focus on his mental health. “I owe it to my teammates, coaches, the organization and the fans to have my heart 100 percent in the game,” Johnson wrote. “And right now my heart is telling me that it’s time to say goodbye to football.”
End of an era in Philadelphia
Johnson was the last of the Eagles’ “Core Four” linemen still playing, following Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham into retirement. He leaves with five All-Pro selections, six Pro Bowl appearances and two Super Bowl rings. Philadelphia drafted him fourth overall in 2013 out of Oklahoma and signed him to four extensions, most recently a one-year, $25 million deal that ran through 2027.
The retirement has not yet been officially processed, and the move carries salary-cap complications: part of a $21.7 million option bonus was due in December, and the Eagles could look to recover some 2026 money already paid, per Pro Football Rumors.
Because Johnson appeared in three games this season, he would first be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2032.
Source: Pro Football Rumors.
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