PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles standout right tackle Lane Johnson announced his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday.
Johnson, who pondered retirement this offseason, was a surprise inactive for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams. The team did not know until that morning that Johnson would not play.
"I deeply wanted to gut it out for one more year; to take the field with my brothers for one last season. But after a lot of reflection, I've realized that my personal and family priorities have changed. Right now it is critical that I focus on my mental health," he wrote in a statement posted to social media.
"I owe it to my teammates, coaches, the organization and the fans to have my head and heart 100 percent in the game. And right now my heart is telling me that it's time to say goodbye to football."
Rookie Markel Bell started in his absence. Bell is the most likely candidate to replace Johnson in the lineup for the rest of the season as the 2-2 Eagles adapt to life without one of the best players in franchise history.
Johnson, 36, missed four practices during training camp for personal reasons. He announced upon his return in August that this would likely be his last season in the NFL, with the pull of family life weighing on him. Both of his parents were dealing with health issues, he said. He noted that his oldest child is 13 and "it's hard to get time back, especially those years I feel like are very pivotal."
"As you get older, things change in your life, priorities. Your children get older, your parents get older, it just puts things into perspective," he said at the time. "It's looking like this is potentially going to be probably my last year just because I am getting to that point. Those priorities away from football are starting to merge. I love everything about this game and am preparing for it, but this is kind of where I'm at in my career."
Johnson has put together a Hall of Fame-worthy career since being selected fourth overall by the Eagles out of Oklahoma in 2013. He has been named to the Pro Bowl six times and received first-team All-Pro honors twice while helping the Eagles to a pair of Super Bowl championships -- the only two in franchise history.
Johnson's impact on the field could be measured in a number of ways, including wins and losses. The Eagles were 122-63-1 when Johnson started compared to 18-30 when he was not in the lineup.
"Lane excelled under multiple coaching staffs, maintaining an elite level of play throughout his entire career. His combination of talent, strength, athleticism, and intelligence made him a truly unique player in this league, and there is no doubt in my mind that one day he will be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame," Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement.
Johnson also became one of the top mental health advocates in sports during his storied run in Philadelphia. He has been open about his dealings with anxiety and depression, which date back to 2008 when he was a college freshman.
He missed three games during the 2021 season while suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms after attempting to taper off an antidepressant and dealing with the physical and mental toll of an ankle injury that did not allow him to play up to his perfectionist standards.
Johnson's candidness about his experiences upon his return had a profound effect in the locker room, "opening up a pathway" for players to talk about their personal struggles, as Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata put it at the time, adding that Johnson was viewed as the "focal point of our locker room for mental health."
It had a ripple effect across the league as well, with mental health becoming less stigmatized as prominent players such as Johnson opened up.
"I've never had any siblings, so being in a locker room, those guys are my brothers," Johnson said. "I can tell from body language, I can tell from a lot of stuff that people are not doing good. So my thing is to just talk to them ... to get personal with them and really tell them how I was feeling very similar, and I know what you're feeling, I know what you're going through."
