Lane Johnson knows his ankle injury isn't going away

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Lane Johnson didn't sound all that convincing.

Johnson, who hasn't gotten through a game healthy since Week 3, was talking Friday about his nagging ankle injury.

"Yeah, I'll be able to play and function," he said. "It's just something we're probably going to have to deal with the rest of the year."

Johnson, the Eagles' three-time Pro Bowl right tackle, has been dealing with this ankle since training camp and really for a couple of years now.

He had a surgical clean-out after training camp and missed the opener. He was fine for the Rams and Bengals games, then missed 25 snaps against the 49ers, 20 against the Steelers, didn't play against the Ravens, missed 21 snaps against the Giants and didn't play against the Cowboys.

Since Week 4, he's played only 136 of a possible 337 snaps, and there's been a knee issue compounding the ankle problem.

"Yeah, the (Dallas game), another guy fell on my leg again, so it was just something hard to control," he said. "Had it drained again. Other than that, though, it's really improved a lot this week, the most I've practiced in a while, so it's been good. The knee's fine. The ankle is drained, but it's feeling good now."

Johnson had a full week of rest thanks to the bye. He's going to start Sunday against the Giants and see if he can't finish a game.

The Eagles have used Johnson, Jack Driscoll, Matt Pryor, Jordan Mailata and Brett Toth at right tackle at various times this year. 

"As long as I'm not feeling as much pain as I was in the beginning, then I'll be fine," Johnson said. "I'll be able to go through."

Johnson has played 16 games only twice in his eight-year career — as a rookie in 2013 and again in 2015. He served a four-game suspension in 2014 and a 10-gamer in 2016, and he's missed nine games with injuries over the last four years.

"Really, it's just been frustrating more than anything having to miss games, but it's ultimately how your body responds," he said. "But this week's probably been the best week as far as the most practice that I've done, so that's been a positive." 

Johnson was hopeful his surgical procedure back in the summer would have corrected his ankle issue, which dates back to a game against the Jaguars in October of 2018.

"I think it corrected it from a stability standpoint, but if people or bodies fly on your leg, it doesn't matter what you do," he said. "I've taken some advice from Tra Thomas, I'm starting to wear a knee brace, so I'm going to have a knee brace on the rest of the year."

Jason Peters is back after missing four games, Isaac Seumalo should be back either this week or next week after missing six games and Johnson is planning on being back after missing some or all of the last five games.

They're all getting healthy. The tricky part is keeping them healthy.

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