PHILADELPHIA -- There were some surprised looks around the NovaCare Complex when Nick Sirianni was asked which Philadelphia Eagles player improved over the course of the offseason. Sirianni could have mentioned anybody, but he singled one player out in particular.
He wasn't one of the well-known players either.
Fred Johnson, the No. 3 offensive tackle behind Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, was the player Sirianni singled out. Of all the players on the 90-man roster, Sirianni sent his flowers Johnson's way.
"I think Fred Johnson is continuing to develop as a really solid football player,' Sirianni said after the preseason win over the New England Patriots. "He's a big man, right? You see that, and it's hard to get around him. He just continues to put the work in that he needs to to put in to develop at his position."
Johnson landed a two-year deal with the Eagles prior to the final preseason game last year after being surprisingly cut by the team. As it turned out, that was just a procedure toward the eventual extension -- and he spent all of the 2023 season as the top backup tackle behind Johnson and Mailata.
A undrafted free agent in 2019, Johnson started eight games and played 28 for the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He's been waived or released three times, the first time by the Pittsburgh Steelers after being a practice squad call-up to the game-day roster for five consecutive weeks. Once the Steelers waived Johnson, he was signed from their practice squad to the Bengals -- remaining there for three seasons before being waived again in 2021.
The Buccaneers gave up on Johnson midway through the 2022 campaign, and he ended up on the Eagles practice squad. Johnson turned that opportunity into a roster spot last season, playing all 17 games in Philadelphia.
Fighting for a roster spot again, Johnson is entrenched as the No. 3 tackle once again. He's learning right tackle after spending all of last season as left tackle, which may have explained his slow start to camp. Johnson stood out on Day 15 of practice this week, destroying Eli Ricks on a sweep by Tyrion Davis-Price and wrecking a few other defenders on a separate sweep with Will Shipley running behind him.
It's easy to see what the Eagles like about Johnson.
"Fred's got some long arms and he has a lot of power with them," said Eagles center Cam Jurgens. "He's fun to be around. He's a good teammate. We love him, and he's doing a really good job going from left tackle to right tackle, and he just has a lot of fun with it.
"We enjoy it. He can make some splash highlight plays and it's fun to see. We've been seeing him work his ass off all camp, pass game, run game, being able to lock people down and just drive through the whistle and finish guys. We need a lot more guys like him."
Johnson may be heading into his sixth season, but he's a player the Eagles coaching staff have trusted over the past year, That roster spot appears secure, which is unchartered territory for Johnson.
"I'm really pleased with how Fred has worked and his toughness and just his ability to improve each day," Sirianni said. "You can see that, so I'm happy.
"You asked me for a guy, that's the guy I'll single out right there. Proud of Fred for all the work he's put in to get himself to where he is right now."
