When the Eagles had an opportunity on Sunday to bring back swing tackle Fred Johnson in a trade, they pounced.
Which might make you wonder why they didn’t just re-sign him in free agency.
“I think from our perspective, to just go, ‘Why not sign him?’ There’s also in his mind,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said on Tuesday. “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.”
Johnson, 28, signed a one-year deal with the Jaguars in March with hopes of getting more opportunity to play. And the Eagles did at least try to replace him.
They signed veterans Kendall Lamm and Matt Pryor and then after failing to draft an offensive tackle on the first two days of the draft, selected Myles Hinton and Cameron Williams in the sixth round.
But it was really clear during training camp that none of them were adequate backup options to Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson going into the 2025 season. And the Eagles just watched Big Fred start six games in the Super Bowl season and play at a pretty high level in those starts.
“When the opportunity arose to bring him back, we jumped at it,” Roseman said. “Just someone that we feel really good about having here.”
The Eagles first signed Johnson to their practice squad in November of 2022 and he began working with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, whom Johnson has credited for helping save his career. After not playing much in 2023, Johnson was a huge part of the Super Bowl season in 2024.
He seems pretty happy to be back.
So much of the Eagles’ offense is predicated on leaving their tackles on islands and they don’t like to change the whole offense when a starter is out. Backup tackles are important across the league but you can argue they’re even more important in Philly.
Last year, Johnson started five games at left tackle and one at right tackle. His best performance came against the Bengals and All-Pro Trey Hendrickson, whom Johnson held without a sack or QB hit.
There’s a good chance the Eagles will need Big Fred again in 2025.
“That offensive tackle position, just like the quarterback position, you can never have too many of those guys that come in and play for you over the course of a season,” Roseman said. “We’re trying to play a lot of games here. Over the course of those games, you’re going to need guys to step up in back-up roles. Fred’s shown he can do it at a championship level, and so just really excited to bring him back.”
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