Losing Lane Johnson to a suspension would be a big blow. PhillyMag:

Losing Johnson for 10 games would obviously be a blow to the Birds, especially when you consider Jason Peters may miss time at some point this season, too. If Peters is out, how comfortable do you feel with some type of combination of Tobin, Kelly and Barbre protecting your injury-prone quarterback? If Peters can stay healthy, however, moving Barbre over and Wisniewski into the starting lineup wouldn’t be devastating. It would be a noticeable drop-off, but I don’t think it’s one that would significantly alter the Eagles’ record. If Peters can’t stay healthy, Johnson’s absence would have a compounding effect and really be a burden for the Birds.

Johnson’s backups aren’t too promising. CSN:

Aside from Tobin, Kelly and Barbre, the team doesn’t have much depth at tackle. Andrew Gardner is recovering from Lisfranc surgery, but has been the third-team left tackle in practice. He won the starting right guard job out of training camp a year ago, but is probably more of a natural tackle. He’s an option, but has clearly been behind Tobin and Kelly during the 2016 training camp. Then, the team has a fifth-round pick in Halapoulivaati Vaitai, but the rookie doesn’t quite seem ready for game action. Malcolm Bunche (practice squad in 2015) and undrafted Dillon Gordon don’t seem like great options either. Perhaps the team will pick someone up off the waiver wire after cuts, or try to make a trade, but there aren’t a bunch of decent offensive tackles growing on trees.

Matt Tobin could slide into Johnson’s spot. Courier Times:

“They wanted me to play right guard and I did the best I could,” Tobin said on Monday. “I’m not the most comfortable over there but if they want me to go over there and do it I’m going to do my best at it.” If it’s any consolation, Tobin said he is feeling comfortable not only playing tackle but also being on the left side. We are about to find out if that will help, at least on Thursday when he starts in Peters’ place, but maybe for longer. Another option is to move Allen Barbre to right tackle and insert Wisniewski at Barbre’s spot at left guard. Wisniewski has made 77 starts in the league, but all of them have been at center except for 15, which came at left guard. Barbre has played just eight games at right tackle, with seven of them coming in 2009 and one in 2014.

Trading for a replacement seems unlikely. NJ.com:

If right tackle Lane Johnson is suspended for 10 games, as several reports suggest, is there anyone out there for the Eagles to sign or trade for to replace him? “No,” one executive in personnel for another NFC team said. There’s nobody he was asked. “No,” was again the one-word response. Another personnel man for a NFC team was a little more expansive on the subject. “It’s not as bad as quarterback, but there just aren’t an abundance of good tackles out there,” he said. “Most teams don’t even have two real good ones, let alone three. And if you do have three, you’re not trading one unless you get knocked over with an offer.”

This whole thing could cost Johnson a ton of money. Philly.com:


Johnson signed a five-year, $56 million contract extension this offseason. ESPN’s Field Yates reported that Johnson’s guarantees, after the $10 million he has already received, would be voided if he had indeed tested positive again. This could amount to about $25 million, but that doesn’t mean Johnson would lose the money if he remained under contract – it would mean that if the Eagles cut him, he wouldn’t get it. The team is unlikely to release Johnson, but this could cast a pall over his career. He would return from a second suspension with the knowledge that if he somehow took something else that triggered a positive test, the prescribed penalty for a third violation is a two-year ban…Johnson’s base salary this year, after the signing bonus, is just $675,000, so he would lose ten-seventeenths of that to a 10-game suspension. (There are 17 payment weeks in the season, including the bye.) More significant is that he also would lose ten-seventeenths of the $5 million 2016 proration of his signing bonus.