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When the Philadelphia Eagles decided to execute a series of trades on an otherwise unsuspecting Sunday, it helped to reshape the roster in a major way by bringing back 2024 Super Bowl Champion Fred Johnson.
One of the big breakout stars of the season, Johnson looked great in reserve duty for the Eagles last fall, which led to a chance to compete for a starting role with the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency. But when Trevor Lawrence’s squad decided to take things in another direction, keeping Walker Little and Anton Harrison in their starting roles, Howie Roseman came calling, and, for a conditional seventh-round pick, a deal was done.
Asked how it felt to return to the Eagles after a summer away, Johnson noted that, if he was going to leave Jacksonville, Philadelphia was his preferred destination, to the point where he almost drove up the East Coast to get back to the NovaCare Center.
“I’m so excited, so ready, just happy to be back in the city, happy to be back with this team, you know, and continue to keep the train rolling,” Johnson told reporters.
“I heard about the trade and I kind of, you know, was like, hey, if I go anywhere else, like, I’d rather go back to the Eagles. So, you know, I was super happy, super excited, you know, to my family, to my mom, to my son. And, you know, I was just ready to get out here, almost asked to drive up instead of fly the next morning. So, you know, I was ready to get back.”
So, if Johnson wanted to come back to Philadelphia and the Eagles clearly like him as a reserve tackle more than Kendall Lamm, who has already re-signed with the Dolphins after a summer away, why didn’t the two sides get a deal done back in March? Well, as Roseman noted during his Tuesday media session, the Eagles did want to keep Johnson; he just wanted a chance to compete elsewhere.
“I think from our perspective, to just go, ‘Why not sign him?’ There’s also in his mind,” Roseman said on Tuesday via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “He understands that we have two All-Pro-level offensive tackles. He’s in a stage in his career where he played really well, and he was looking for an opportunity.
“So just because we didn’t sign him doesn’t mean we weren’t trying to sign him. I think for him, he was looking to see what he could do somewhere else because of the situation that we had.”
Will Johnson be able to show what he can do this fall once more? Hopefully not, as that would mean either Lane Johnson or Jordan Mailata suffered an injury. But if his number does get called, at least the Eagles have someone they can trust, which didn’t appear to be the case a week ago.
Fred Johnson: "I heard about the trade, and I was like, 'Hey, if I go anywhere else, I'd rather...
