Like Other Eagles, Lane Johnson Is Trying To Get Better

I will tell you one thing that has impressed me about Chip Kelly’s squad. They have players who have a mindset to get better.  Obviously that’s not by accident, that’s the type of culture Kelly wants around his football team.  It’s no guarantee that this Eagles football team will greatly improve in the upcoming year, but I do like the fact that they’re looking for every way they can to be great. I do believe that attitude is part of what separates champions from the rest of the crowd.

The Eagles have got an entire roster of players who are doing whatever they can to improve; whether it means monitoring every piece of food that goes into their mouths; or seeking the advise of Hall of Famers or getting involved in Mixed Martial Arts training.

That brings us to Eagles starting right tackle Lane Johnson, who is entering his third season.  He decided that he wanted to see if Mixed Martial Arts training would improve his game.

I know he’s got to be tired of people raving about the play of the guy on the other side of the line, Eagles Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, while Johnson goes virtually unnoticed.  So the former Oklahoma Sooner headed to Los Angeles where MMA legend Randy Couture and FOX NFL Insider Jay Glazer have developed a workout program for NFL players.

“Basically, I was just trying to try something different” Johnson told Dave Spadaro of PhiladelphiaEagles.com. “A lot of guys in the off season they’ll lift weights and run but they can’t really utilize it once they get back on the field.  So I did a lot of body on body work.  We did a lot of Greco Roman wrestling.  Just working on pummeling just different things to get your hips going and to get better advantage and to get stronger there.”

Johnson says the workouts took his conditioning to another level.

“Just the conditioning, we did that as well as boxing was probably the toughest stuff I’ve ever done,” Johnson told Spadaro, “I remember the first couple of days, I was puking non-stop. It was terrible. Looking back it’s helped me coming into OTAs (Organized Team Activities) now, I feel I’m in the best shape of my life. I notice now I’m a lot quicker with my hands and a lot stronger with my hands. I don’t have to really think about it. It comes naturally.”

“Clay Matthews went out there to become more violent with his hands. That’s something that pass rushers need as well as tackles because they need to get out on the edge and use their hands as levers against the defensive ends.   So just becoming more violent with my hands and making it muscle memory, so you don’t have to think about it.”

There’s no guarantee of success, but I like his mindset and passion.  Too many players in the league are content to just go through the motions, but Johnson wants to be amongst the best.

Johnson made an astonishing point near the end of the interview, he said, “I dropped by body fat down to three percent. ”

That’s amazing.  Three percent body fat for somebody who weighs over 300 pounds.

“I think I’m getting close to being elite” Johnson explained. “That’s what I’m trying to be. Last year was a stepping stone from my rookie year.  I want to be more aggressive and more violent going into year three.”

We’ll see if it makes a difference.  He’s already a good offensive tackle, we’ll see whether the extra specialized work takes him to where he’s trying to go.