Lane Johnson’s 10-game suspension upheld
Lane Johnson will miss the next 10 games due to a suspension for performance enhancing drugs.
The Philadelphia Eagles suffered their first loss of the 2016-17 season on Sunday afternoon at the hands of the Detroit Lions. On Tuesday, they’ve suffered their second loss of the week, as starting right tackle Lane Johnson lost an appeal of his 10-game PED suspension.
So #Eagles OL Lane Johnson's 10-game suspension will be official, and he'll be taken off the field. Tough blow, but an expected one.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 11, 2016
That means the team will be without him until the penultimate game of the regular season, a Thursday night matchup with their NFC East rival New York Giants.
Johnson, the fourth-overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, was suspended for PED usage once before, in 2014. He has put his appeal in terms of challenging the NFL’s authority: “We put it all on the floor. We didn’t have anything to hide. I feel like we did all we could. There wasn’t a stone left unturned. We weren’t going to be intimidated by the NFL.”
Johnson’s suspension leaves the Eagles in the lurch. Even with Johnson, they rank on the low end of average in Adjusted Line Yards, per Football Outsiders. Their starting left tackle, Jason Peters, is injury-prone and nearing the end of his prime at 34 years old. Their options to replace Johnson are guard Allen Barbre and rookie fifth-round pick Halpoulavaati Vaita.
All that in front of an injury-plagued running back in Ryan Mathews and a rookie quarterback who is perhaps a bit reckless in seeking out contact himself means that not much more would have to go wrong for what has been an impressive offense up to now to go sideways.
Next: 2016 NFL season: Record predictions for all 32 teams
The Eagles offense won’t be the only one hurt by this suspension being upheld. The five-year contract that Johnson signed this offseason had $35 million of guaranteed money. It also contained language that would nullify remaining guarantees if Johnson tested positive for a banned substance. He could still earn the bulk of that money since the team is unlikely to release him.
Now, all that’s left for Johnson and Eagles fans to do is hope that when he comes back in December, the team is on the way to the playoffs. Otherwise, they’ll be left to wonder what might have been had Johnson’s appeal been successful.