PHILADELPHIA — Fred Johnson was seen on the sideline with a sleeve and a brace on his left leg. The Philadelphia Eagles left tackle didn’t practice, but that was the best-case scenario compared to what could have been.
Johnson injured his knee after Jacksonville Jaguars safety Andre Cisco put his helmet into the knee during Jalen Hurts‘ 18-yard touchdown run in the third quarter of Sunday’s victory. Cisco received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the hit, allowing the Eagles to advance half the distance to the goal on the extra point attempt (the Eagles went for two and failed).
Johnson only missed one play and returned to play the rest of the game, but the injury could have been much worse.
“Anyone know if he got fined?” Johnson asked when talking to a few reporters about how the knee injury occurred Wednesday. “If not, we need to talk to the league. It hurts.”
Johnson went into further detail on the knee injury, which could have been significantly more painful than just missing a day of practice. He thinks he’ll be able to start his fourth consecutive game at left tackle for the Eagles against the Dallas Cowboys, which also could be the final game Jordan Mailata is on injured reserve.
“Yeah, I feel good about Sunday. It’s leaning toward that way,” Johnson said. “We got practice tomorrow. Obviously we’ll see. That hit could have been way worse than what it looked like on film. I just seen him drop and I like lifted up my leg trying like to fall over him.
“They said if my foot was planted, I could have been out for the year.”
If Johnson is unable to play on Sunday, Tyler Steen was the primary backup at left tackle. Right guard Mekhi Becton was also getting some reps over there as well.
Johnson avoided something much worse, but he’ll be paying attention when the weekly fines are announced by the league.
