After the Pro Bowl rosters were announced last week, the Eagles had a few notable omissions. But by far the most ridiculous Pro Bowl snub from the Eagles this year has to be Lane Johnson, who wasn’t even named as an alternate.
On Wednesday, Johnson shared his thoughts on not making the Pro Bowl this season. “I was pissed. I’ll leave it at that,” Johnson said. “I was really pissed. As far as that, it just motivates me (for) whatever’s left of the season.”
While getting selected to the Pro Bowl isn’t everything for players, it’s clearly a big deal. Johnson’s hardly the only player to voice their displeasure about getting snubbed. And he has every right to be pissed about not making the final cut.
Johnson did miss three games at the beginning of the season due to anxiety, and sometimes missing time will hinder a player from making the cut for a Pro Bowl roster. But Johnson has been arguably the best right tackle in football when healthy.
Looking at the tackles who made the cut for the Pro Bowl, it’s a little weird that the NFL only selected three and didn’t differentiate between left tackles and right tackles. Trent Williams, Tristan Wirfs, and Tyron Smith were the tackles selected, and only one of them (Wirfs) plays on the right side of the line, which is where Johnson plays.
Among right tackles across the league, there were a handful that were more worthy selections than Wirfs. Obviously you have Lane, then guys like La’el Collins, Tom Compton, and Trent Brown who could have easily made it over Wirfs. But Johnson has accomplished something that none of those other tackles have, he hasn’t given up a single sack in 2021 and he’s only surrendered one quarterback hit on 387 pass blocking snaps.
Every player that’s ben mentioned so far has given up at least one sack, and all of them except for Williams have given up more than one.
Not putting Johnson in the Pro Bowl, in a year in which the Eagles offensive line has been downright dominant, is just strange. Aside from Jason Kelce, Johnson is the most recognizable player along the Birds offensive line. Typically when you see snubs like this, it’s due to low name recognition. But Johnson doesn’t fall into that camp at all. He’s already been to three Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team throughout his career.
So, Johnson being pissed off about getting snubbed is completely justified. Hopefully, he takes his anger out on his opponents for the rest of the 2021 campaign.