Lane Johnson’s retirement landed on Tuesday, three days before the Eagles were scheduled to travel to London to face the Jaguars, and it did more than remove a veteran right tackle from the lineup. It immediately changed the shape of the Eagles’ offense, the way Jalen Hurts will have to play, and the way Philadelphia has to sort out its next move at right tackle.
Johnson exits after a 14-year career in which he allowed just 23 sacks, 10 of them as a rookie. That kind of stability is hard to replace on any week. It is even harder to replace when the next opponent is a Jaguars defense that enters the matchup as a 6.5-point favorite and has already been positioned to benefit from the Eagles’ injuries and recent struggles.
For Hurts, the adjustment is not optional. With Johnson gone, his game is going to change immediately because pass protection is not going to be as rock-solid as it was with the veteran in front of him. The Eagles do not get a gradual transition here; they get a sudden one, and it comes against a defense that can already treat the right side of the line as a place to test.
Markel Bell is the next man up at right tackle, and the timing makes the assignment even sharper. Bell is making his first career start, which means the Eagles are asking him to absorb a role that was not supposed to arrive this early. He is now the player most directly responsible for holding together the spot Johnson occupied for so long.
That is where Tyler Steen enters the picture, and why this is not just a one-player replacement story. Steen was drafted in the third round in 2023 and signed a four-year contract with Philadelphia, and he has already shown enough to remain part of the conversation. He earned a 73.4 overall grade in 2025, despite criticism from fans, and he has allowed just four pressures across four games this season. The Eagles now have to decide how much of the immediate answer belongs to Bell and how much of the longer-term plan belongs to Steen.
The contrast between the two is part of the problem and part of the decision. Bell is the immediate fill-in, the first-time starter who has to survive the first wave of pressure. Steen is the more established piece in the organization’s planning, the player whose role now carries more weight because Johnson is no longer there to bridge the gap. The Eagles were already facing a long-term question on the right side; Johnson’s retirement simply moved it to the front of the line.
And the line itself is not entering this moment in ideal shape. Jordan Mailata has not been playing at an All-Pro level, Cam Jurgens has struggled this season, and Landon Dickerson is dealing with injuries. That leaves Philadelphia with less margin for error even before the Jaguars start attacking the matchup. If the Eagles could lean on one dominant edge or one clean interior answer, the loss of Johnson would be easier to absorb. Instead, the entire front is under scrutiny at once.
That is why the Jaguars’ defensive front matters so much in this game. Their last outing produced 20 pressures, 10 quarterback hits and two sacks, and that kind of disruption is exactly the sort of production that can turn a sudden personnel change into a game-long problem. Bell’s first start is not happening in a vacuum; it is happening against a defense that has already shown it can make the pocket uncomfortable.
Nick Sirianni is part of the evaluation too. This is no longer just about whether Bell can hold up or whether Steen can settle into a larger role. The coaching staff has to sort out how to protect Hurts, how to manage the right side of the line, and how to keep the offense functional while one of its most reliable pieces is suddenly gone. The response will be judged alongside the replacement.
That is the larger consequence of Johnson’s retirement. It does not only leave a hole at right tackle. It forces the Eagles to answer several questions at once: how Hurts adapts, whether Bell can handle the first snap of a new reality, whether Steen becomes more central to the plan, and whether Sirianni can keep the offense from feeling the loss immediately.
The Eagles were already heading into London with injuries and uncertainty. Johnson’s retirement turned that uncertainty into a test of how many layers of dependence Philadelphia can absorb in one week.