January 26, 2026
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What is Lane Johnson's health status headed into an important 2026 offseason? The Eagles and Johnson havent said.
The dominant storyline of the Eagles' offseason is the team's wide-ranging, and seemingly endless, search for a new offensive coordinator.
But an even bigger uncertainty facing the team is the overall roster construction of an offense that, on paper, should be attractive for any coordinator candidate but also comes with some glaring question marks.
For starters, is A.J. Brown going to be an Eagle in 2026? And then, equally as important, will Lane Johnson be manning his spot at right tackle, where he has played at a future Hall of Fame level for the better part of the past 13 years?
Johnson, you may recall, sustained the dreaded Lisfranc foot sprain in a Week 11 game against the Lions. He had already dealt with an ankle injury earlier this season that forced him out of some games early; the mid-foot sprain he suffered Nov. 16 threatened to end his season prematurely.
But the Eagles were hopeful that Johnson would return before the postseason. They didn't even place him on Injured Reserve, signaling the belief that Johnson could be come back within the 4-to-6 week timetable.
Things looked bleak for Johnson when he didn't even get on the practice field for Week 16 or 17, and then when he finally got back to practice ahead of the Eagles' Wild Card game against the 49ers, Johnson was never listed as a full participant. Despite some optimism he'd be able to suit up against San Francisco, Johnson didn't, and the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles bowed out early in a 23-19 loss at home.
In the team's end-of-season press conference, neither head coach Nick Sirianni nor Executive Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman provided an update on Johnson's health.
"I think all those conversations that we have of our players are between us and anything they're doing," Roseman said. "I'm not saying that negatively or positively, but anyone you ask about, I think that that's their business to discuss.
"Obviously, you're talking about a Hall of Fame player who’s been a huge, huge part of any of our success that we've had, and when you watch him play, he's still playing at an elite level."
But will he be playing at all in 2026?
There's been no indication that Johnson plans to retire, but also, Johnson hasn't spoken to the media since October.
To better understand Johnson's injury, and why his comeback might have stalled, we spoke to Dr. Dinesh Dhanaraj, the Attending Orthopedic Surgeon at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne.
Before getting started, though, an important note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and guest authors and do not reflect any official policy or position of any NFL team or a team's athletic physicians.
Even Dr. Dhanaraj, who spoke to us in November and noted that it "was a good sign" that Johnson walked off the Linc on his own, was surprised that Johnson wasn't able to make it back.
Back then, Dhanaraj estimated that Johnson had sustained a Grade 1 sprain. Now, Dhanaraj wonders if Johnson sustained a more severe sprain. He doesn't suspect Johnson suffered a fracture, which would've required a more immediate surgery.
"Even in November, I said that was optimistic," Dhanaraj said. "The Lisfranc is a tough injury. They're nasty because they can be quite debilitating. Big guys, you know, they put a lot of weight through their feet. There is a lot of force going through that one area of their foot. It can be a source of chronic pain if it's not adequately healed or rehabbed or even rehabbed surgically-slash-fixed.
"I know there's all this talk on whether he'll come back, etcetera. He's 35. He's still good. But what are you going to do with him afterward if it's still not healed?"
Johnson once underwent a tightrope procedure on his ankle prior to the 2020 season, but later developed more complications in his ankle and underwent another surgery that ended that season for him in November.
Dhanaraj said surgery to repair the Lisfranc makes it "less likely" to suffer reinjury or cause more pain in the mid-foot, and the long-term issue would just be arthritis later in age, but Dhanaraj wondered if Johnson hasn't yet had surgery, if he is undecided on whether or not to continue his playing career.
Which, of course, would be the same question anyone interviewing for the Eagles' offensive coordinator job would probably also have.
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