00:00All right, we're going to get to kind of a – this is a shocking news story
00:04that dropped on Tuesday.
00:07Lane Johnson, who's one of the best right tackles of his era,
00:11retired four games into his 14th season.
00:13Now, he has been playing for a long time.
00:16He has two championships for the Eagles,
00:19and he was playing really good football this season.
00:23He was a surprise inactive on Sunday against the Rams.
00:26Everyone's like, oh, and it was for personal reasons.
00:28So everyone's like, oh, well, he'll be back in a few weeks
00:31or he'll be back next week.
00:33He retired.
00:34He just said there was a lot of mental health issues that he was going with.
00:37There's reports that he got into it in 2021 with Jeffrey Lurie
00:43and his teammates were clowning him,
00:45and that kind of contributed to this whole situation
00:48and as it's kind of spiraled over the years.
00:51So he had a season-ending injury 10 games into 2025.
00:54He's gone through multiple injuries over his career,
00:57and it's – I will say this.
01:00I'm very happy for Lane Johnson that he went out on his own terms.
01:04I'm very happy that Lane Johnson left whenever he wanted to
01:08because some guys are forced to play like, oh, I can't let my team down.
01:13He said, I'm letting my team down, but I'm not at 100% mental health.
01:16Like, I want to give everything to this team,
01:18and he put out a personal statement, so I'm paraphrasing from that.
01:21He said, I'm not at 100% giving my all to this team,
01:25so why would I continue?
01:26I'm just – my heart is not in it.
01:28And for an Eagles team that needs as much help as possible
01:31and all the injuries that they're going with, it hurts them team-wise,
01:33but this is just another instance.
01:35We've seen this, right, John, over the years of these guys
01:38just calling it quits earlier in their career when –
01:41Yeah.
01:41You know, we didn't really expect it.
01:43Look at Andrew Luck.
01:44Look at Luke Keekly.
01:44Look at Barry Sanders.
01:46Calvin Johnson.
01:47Look at all these guys.
01:48I think because this – football demands so much of you, you the person.
01:54Yeah.
01:54And because it demands so much of you, the person,
01:56it takes a toll on your family.
01:58It takes a toll on everybody around you.
02:00There's – if you know a professional football player,
02:03their life is – your life is completely structured around their schedule.
02:08And that can take a toll on a lot of families.
02:11And when you don't play well or when you are physically in pain
02:16outside of the work hours, outside of that schedule,
02:20that takes a toll on you mentally because these guys have kids.
02:22They have wives.
02:24They have family members who they want to be around
02:26and not, you know, have to have their leg propped up.
02:28They want to sit in the back at the barbecue
02:30and not, you know, not have to worry about the sun hitting their eyes
02:33in a particular way.
02:34Like, the game demands so much from these guys.
02:38I'm happy that he was able to make that decision
02:41and he didn't feel peer pressured enough into being like,
02:44you know what, I'm going to stick it out for the guys.
02:46But it sounds like something went wrong between, you know,
02:50the parties involved that made this decision a little easier.
02:54And so whether they treated him with a certain level of respect
02:57or whether they didn't treat him with a certain level of respect
03:00and he decided to walk away, I think that that puts this in a situation
03:04where it's about quality of life for him.
03:07And I think he chose quality of life over whatever was going on
03:10in that locker room, man.
03:12And that's a definite blow to them.
03:14That hurts them.
03:16Yeah.
03:17But at the same time, you got to be happy for that guy.
03:20And if you're a teammate of that guy and you appreciate what he did
03:22for the organization, you'll thank him.
03:24You know, you'll check on him to make sure he's cool.
03:27And then, you know, you'll try to do the best that you can with the season.
03:31Yeah.
03:31He signed an extension in 2025 through 2027.
03:35He missed time at the start of camp.
03:37And then he also said his mother had health issues.
03:39He was briefly away in 2021.
03:42And then he attributed that to personal struggles as well.
03:45So this is not a first-time thing for him.
03:48He's had this happen, you know.
03:50And, you know, the Eagles, they're now 2-2.
03:53Their offensive line, like I said before, already hit by a lot of injuries.
03:57They were outscored 31-0 in the second half of their last two games.
04:02So it's a massive blow to the Eagles in that respect.
04:11Because now, listen, Saquon Barkley's got his hamstring.
04:14Devontae Smith is going through his stuff.
04:15Jalen Hurts had an under-100 yards passing.
04:19Maybe he saw that.
04:20He was like, oh.
04:21Lane Johnson looked around and went, you know what?
04:24This ain't going too well.
04:25I'm going to get out of here, y'all.
04:28Y'all take it easy.
04:30You saw Jalen Hurts throw a couple of meatball subs that just happened to turn into completions.
04:34He looked at that line at the end of the game and said, he threw about 90.
04:37What?
04:38Oh, yeah, I'm done.
04:40Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no.
04:41Let me go type this thank you letter up to Lori.
04:44Hey, honey, go get me a pen.
04:47I'm protecting him?
04:49That's what I'm doing this for.
04:50I ain't finna break my spinal fluid.
04:53My spinal fluid over for 93 yards.
04:55No, buddy.
04:56No thanks.
04:57But it just goes to show, like, you know, like I said, we talked about these other guys
05:01that have ended their careers early.
05:03Andrew Luck, it was a shock.
05:04Luke Keighley, it was a shock.
05:06It's like, these guys are playing awesome football.
05:07You're going to retire now.
05:08Calvin Johnson was a massive shock.
05:10Calvin Johnson, he was still awesome.
05:12And he was like, man, I've been getting hit too hard.
05:14I get too many concussions.
05:16I'm out of here.
05:16I already proved what I can do in this league.
05:18He was a big guy.
05:20He was huge, too.
05:21And he was still playing really well.
05:23I mean, you can go down the list of all the guys that have bowed out because of their personal
05:27issues
05:27and their health issues and mental health and all that.
05:29And I'm happy for them.
05:31Football's a tough sport.
05:32You're getting in a car crash multiple times per day, per week.
05:35So, in any case, it takes lives.
05:38It literally takes lives.
05:41Yeah.
05:42So, everyone, take care of your mental health.
05:44I'll take care of mine.
05:45John will take care of his.
