Nick Sirianni singled out one player who stood out during Eagles camp, and it’s not who you would expect

PHILADELPHIA — There were some surprised looks around the NovaCare Complex when Nick Sirianni was asked which Philadelphia Eagles player improved over the course of the offseason. Sirianni could have mentioned anybody, but he singled one player out in particular. 

He wasn’t one of the well-known players either. 

Fred Johnson, the No. 3 offensive tackle behind Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, was the player Sirianni singled out. Of all the players on the 90-man roster, Sirianni sent his flowers Johnson’s way. 

“I think Fred Johnson is continuing to develop as a really solid football player,’ Sirianni said after the preseason win over the New England Patriots. “He’s a big man, right? You see that, and it’s hard to get around him. He just continues to put the work in that he needs to to put in to develop at his position.”

Johnson landed a two-year deal with the Eagles prior to the final preseason game last year after being surprisingly cut by the team. As it turned out, that was just a procedure toward the eventual extension — and he spent all of the 2023 season as the top backup tackle behind Johnson and Mailata. 

A undrafted free agent in 2019, Johnson started eight games and played 28 for the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s been waived or released three times, the first time by the Pittsburgh Steelers after being a practice squad call-up to the game-day roster for five consecutive weeks. Once the Steelers waived Johnson, he was signed from their practice squad to the Bengals — remaining there for three seasons before being waived again in 2021.

The Buccaneers gave up on Johnson midway through the 2022 campaign, and he ended up on the Eagles practice squad. Johnson turned that opportunity into a roster spot last season, playing all 17 games in Philadelphia. 

Fighting for a roster spot again, Johnson is entrenched as the No. 3 tackle once again. He’s…

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Author : Jeff Kerr

Publish date : 2024-08-23 14:52:48

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