Former Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland played an enormous role in developing Lane Johnson into the dominant player he became in the NFL.
Unsurprisingly, Stoutland had a message to share after Johnson officially, and abruptly, announced his retirement from the NFL after 14 seasons.
Jeff Stoutland Expresses Pride in Lane Johnson After Illustrious Career
After the news broke, Stoutland took to X (formerly Twitter) to express pride and appreciation for Johnson and the career he built after being selected No. 4 overall by the Eagles in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
“It is extremely rare to come across a player like [Lane Johnson]. Extremely rare,” Stoutland wrote.
“In the spring of 2013, I found myself on a field in East Texas working out a young Lane Johnson. I believe he was 22 years old. All these years later, to say I am proud of the career you built and the man you became would be an understatement. A Hall of Fame career. It’s been a privilege and honor to have coached you.”
Stoutland joined the Eagles shortly before the 2013 Draft and he left the organization before the current campaign. So Stoutland and Johnson basically worked together for the entirety of both of their Eagles tenures. They clearly built an extremely strong bond during that time, and that bond is likely to continue even though neither guy is a member of the Eagles anymore.
Lane Johnson Planned to Retire Alongside Jeff Stoutland
Johnson and Stoutland were so close that Johnson initially planned to walk away from the Eagles at the same time as Stoutland did, prior to the current campaign, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“Lane Johnson had thought about retiring along with Jeff Stoutland. The plan was that they’d ‘go out together,’ something they had ‘talked about before last season,’ a source familiar with Johnson’s thinking told The Inquirer,” McLane wrote.
“The Hall of Fame-bound right tackle was initially devastated when Stoutland walked away from the Eagles in February, a move that was precipitated by the organization’s decision to change its offense and strip the longtime offensive line coach of his run game coordinator role.”
Johnson ultimately decided against retiring at the same time as Stoutland, but he didn’t last long in the league without him.
