NEW ORLEANS — As Fred Johnson spoke with a few of reporters who had gathered around him in the winning locker room of the Superdome, his teammates began to take notice.
“Yeah, Fred! Fred! Yeah Fred!”
They know Johnson’s story. They knew how much Sunday meant to him.
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The Eagles were able to pull out a gutty 15-12 win over the Saints on Sunday and had to play the entire second half without starting right guard Mekhi Becton (finger) and starting right tackle Lane Johnson (concussion). Tyler Steen finished the game at right guard and Fred Johnson at right tackle.
Johnson, 27, had waited a long time for Sunday.
“It’s been a long time since I played ball, bro,” Johnson said after hearing his teammates yell his name. “It’s been, what, three years?”
Johnson joined the Eagles’ practice squad in November of 2022 and has said before that he was mad at the world when he got to Philly. By 2022, Johnson had become an NFL journeyman who began to wonder if his football career was coming to an end. But Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland saw something in Johnson and stuck with him. In return, Johnson trusted Stout and has given his NFL career a second act as a backup tackle on the Eagles’ 53-man roster.
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But Sunday was the first time Johnson got real offensive playing time (not counting Week 18 last year) since he was with the Bengals way back in 2021. So while everyone on the team was excited about to see Saquon Barkley get into the end zone on Sunday, it meant even more to Johnson.
“After that touchdown to Saquon, I almost cried on the sideline,” Johnson said. “I ain’t going to lie. I got emotional. I got really emotional because I thought I’d never be back in action. Everybody knows some of my story. It’s just been a long time coming. When I seen him running to score, I got hype, real hype. I was just grateful for the moment. I’m ready to go back out and do it again.”
As for Steen, Sunday was a big day for him too. Because he entered training camp as the favorite to be the Eagles’ right guard but suffered an ankle injury on Day 3 and then Becton never gave the job back.
Steen, a 2022 third-round pick, had to accept his role as a backup.
“It was obviously a little frustrating when anyone gets hurt, especially when you as a player get hurt because you want to be able to kind of show what you do on the field and stuff like that,” Steen said. “So it’s frustrating but knowing that my coaches and my teammates believe in me, just keep improving every day and try to get healthy.
“Coach (Nick) Sirianni had a meeting before the season and expressed how everybody on the team has a role and how each role is important on the team. Once you realize your role, just trying to be the best at your role. That’s kind of how I took it.”
Because Steen and Johnson are both backups, they have actually taken a ton of reps together during practice and that rapport seemed to help against the Saints.
The Eagles on Sunday scored both of their touchdowns missing four starters on offense: Becton, Lane Johnson, A.J. Brown and Devonta smith.
“We’ve got confidence in everyone on the team,” starting center Cam Jurgens said. “I think everybody just played hard. Everyone fought their asses off. It’s the next man up mentality and I’m proud of Fred and Steen coming in there and playing good. I don’t think they missed a beat.”
We’ll see what happens this week with Becton and Lane Johnson. There’s a chance one or both could be back for the Tampa game. But if they’re not, the Eagles will be ready to roll with Steen and Big Fred.
Even though Sunday was an important day for Steen, he was as happy for Johnson as anyone.
“Fred brings a lot of energy every day. Real positive,” Steen said. “I think we all had a belief in Fred, we all kind of knew Fred was a really good player. And for him to be able to go out there and validate that, I think everybody was just really happy for him.”
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