Lane Johnson said Saturday that the 2026 season will probably be his last in the NFL, putting a near end date on one of the Philadelphia Eagles' most durable careers just after he returned to training camp. The 36-year-old right tackle had missed four practices, then came back Friday before laying out how he sees the next stretch of his career.
That matters now because Johnson is not talking like a player who is fading. He said he still believes he can be a premier tackle in the league, and he pointed to his movement and health as reasons to keep going. He also told teammates earlier that they already knew where he stood on his timeline heading into 2026, which makes this less like a sudden announcement and more like a window into a decision he has been moving toward.
Johnson has spent his career at the center of the Eagles' line, won two Super Bowls and made six Pro Bowls, which is why any hint about his future lands with more weight than a routine training-camp note. Last year, before signing a reworked contract, he said he had already thought about retirement. That deal added $8 million over the next two seasons, brought another $30 million in guarantees and extended him through the 2027 campaign, so the numbers on paper still point beyond 2026 even if his own words do not.
He also described the absence that kept him out of four practices as personal stuff tied to his mother dealing with health issues. Then there is the recent injury history that hangs over all of this. In 2025, Johnson started 10 games before a season-ending Lisfranc injury in his foot, and PFF said he allowed no sacks and no hits in 449 offensive snaps before going down. He was also ranked No. 2 in the B/R NFL 1,000 behind only Myles Garrett, a reminder that even at 36 he was still being judged among the league's best.
Johnson has been direct about the passage of time. He said priorities change as children and parents get older, that it is hard to get time back, and that not everybody can keep playing forever. For the Eagles, the practical question is not whether he can still perform at a high level — he says he can — but whether they get one more season from him or are already watching the closing stretch of a career that has defined their right side for years.
