Source: Lane Johnson to be sidelined for multiple weeks with foot injury

Jeff Neiburg and Jeff McLane, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Nov 17, 2025

Published in Football

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PHILADELPHIA — Lane Johnson is dealing with a Lisfranc sprain in his foot that is likely to sideline the Philadelphia Eagles’ star right tackle for multiple weeks, league sources confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday.

NFL Network was first to report the update on Johnson, who left Sunday’s 16-9 Eagles win over the Detroit Lions after playing just 14 snaps.

Johnson is awaiting results from X-rays with Dr. Robert Anderson, a foot and ankle specialist. While Johnson is believed to have suffered a sprain, a decision will be made if he needs potentially season-ending surgery, according to sources.

He is likely to miss at least 4-6 weeks with a sprain. A placement on injured reserve would force him to miss at least the next four games.

“I know that he’ll do everything he can do to get back as quick as he possibly can,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said Monday. Sirianni would not discuss a potential timeline.

The 35-year-old Johnson, who is playing in his 13th season, has dealt with multiple injuries this year. He left the Eagles’ Week 3 game against the Los Angeles Rams with a stinger, then left the team’s Week 4 game against Tampa Bay because of a shoulder injury. He left last week’s game against Green Bay with an ankle injury and missed a large chunk before returning in the fourth quarter.

Johnson, who has been a first- or second-team All-Pro selection in each of the last four seasons, has played in every game this season and continues to play at a high level despite battling multiple injuries.

This one, however, will cost him at least a few games, which historically presents a problem to the Eagles.

The Eagles are 12-23 in games Johnson hasn’t started since the beginning of the 2016 season. But backup tackle Fred Johnson has filled in well this season — and last year — when Johnson has missed time.

The Eagles traded to bring Fred back at the end of training camp after the tackle left for Jacksonville in free agency. He has been a difference maker for the Eagles. They were 5-1 last season when he started and are 3-0 in games this season when he has come on in relief to play at least 50% of the offensive snaps.

The Eagles have been using Fred as an extra tight end in jumbo packages in recent weeks. That duty will fall to Matt Pryor, who saw four snaps Sunday night after Lane exited. Sirianni said the Eagles have confidence in both Fred and Pryor.

“I think they’ve played good football when they’ve been able to go in and play,” Sirianni said.

Fred, 28, played his first substantial snaps with the Eagles in 2024 after the team signed him to its practice squad in 2022. In Week 4 last year, he started his first game since the 2021 season, when he was a member of the Cincinnati Bengals. So far this season, he has played 181 offensive snaps and, according to Pro Football Focus, has allowed seven pressures and one sack on 78 pass blocking snaps.

Lane wasn’t the only Eagles offensive lineman to leave the game. Center Cam Jurgens also did not finish the contest.

Sirianni was not asked Monday for an update on Jurgens, who left the game in the fourth quarter Sunday. Jurgens was playing in his first game since Week 7, when he suffered a knee injury. It’s unclear whether he aggravated that injury or whether he’ll miss time.

Brett Toth filled in for Jurgens after he left the game.

Sirianni on 4th-down decision

Six days after the analytics overwhelmingly supported the Eagles punting on fourth down at the end of the Packers game (to the tune of a 5% increase in win percentage if they would have punted), Sirianni again made an aggressive fourth-down decision that didn’t go the team’s way.

The Eagles, leading the Lions by 10 points, tried to Tush Push their way to a first down on a fourth-and-1 from their own 29-yard line with three minutes to play. The Eagles, down two starters on the offensive line, got stuffed, and the Lions took over in scoring range. They cut the lead to one score and almost got the ball back again to try for a game-tying drive.

Sirianni took the blame for the decision not working after the game and was asked again about the topic on Monday. The fifth-year Eagles coach said the decision starts with his confidence in his players and the play.

“The analytics can say what it wants, but if you don’t have faith in the players to go execute it, that doesn’t give you a lot of confidence,” he said. “Analytics is a piece of the puzzle. All these different things are a piece of the puzzle: your past successes, the league studies that you do. All these things play into that. I love our process. Just because you have a great process doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to convert every fourth down.”

The Eagles have learned that over the last two weeks.