Lane Johnson's 2022 season ended in heartbreak, then surgery. A few months later, Johnson has announced he's good as new.
The Eagles right tackle announced on Thursday he has been cleared to return to football activities following a three-month recovery period from surgery on his torn adductor muscle. The tackle tweeted the news, complete with an appropriately exuberant photo:
Johnson notably played through the 2022 postseason with the injury, answering countless questions along the way about how he was able to manage the ailment and still produce at a high enough level to help the Eagles reach the Super Bowl. It was all worth it for a shot at winning a ring with his teammates, but when the Eagles fell painfully short in a loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, Johnson's consolation prize was a trip to the operating room.
He had a sense of humor about it at the time, posting the link to the "better luck next year" line from Happy Gilmore alongside a picture from the hospital bed displaying Johnson in his pre-operation gown. But no one wants to go into surgery just days after losing one of the biggest games of their career.
Luckily for Johnson, it was the start of a three-month recovery period that is now complete, with plenty of time before training camp to get comfortable with his repaired adductor and return to performing at an elite level. He'll have a nice little pay bump awaiting him, too, after signing a one-year extension that increased his guaranteed money in March and returned him to the top of the salary chart at right tackle.
After a productive offseason, the Eagles are again zeroing in on another trip to the Super Bowl. Johnson will play a key role in that pursuit, just as he did in 2022.
