Eagles' Lane Johnson denies that he's facing reported 10-game PED ban

Johnson has already been suspended for PEDs once before

By Jared Dubin

Aug 9, 2016 at 2:53 pm ET • 1 min read

The Philadelphia Eagles have already been dealing without left tackle Jason Peters during the early part of training camp due to injury, and they may be about to lose their starting right tackle as well.

Per several reports, Lane Johnson is facing a 10-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance enhancing drugs. Johnson is reportedly appealing the suspension.

I have been told Lane Johnson will be suspended 10 games for PED violation. His 2nd offense. #Eagles
— Darren DeGaetano (@DarrenDegaetano) August 9, 2016

#Eagles OT Lane Johnson is facing a 10-game PED suspension, source said (as @DarrenDegaetano reported). He's appealing. Would be a bad blow
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 9, 2016

Johnson was already suspended four games for violating the PED policy back in 2014, making the reported violation his second offense. Johnson himself has denied that he is facing such a suspension:

Lane Johnson just responded to text message and said that "all was good," and denied report he's been suspended for 10 games for PED use.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) August 9, 2016

The Eagles took Johnson with the No. 4 overall pick back in 2013. He has started all 44 games for which he has been available and has mostly played right tackle due to the presence of Peters. He signed a contract extension earlier this offseason that pays him $56.26 million over five years. The deal included a $10 million signing bonus and $35.5 million guaranteed. The contract made him one of the highest-paid right tackles in football, which makes sense because he has been a good player so far in his career and he is expected to slide over to left tackle whenever Peters' time with the Eagles comes to a close.

However, as ESPN's Field Yates noted, a PED suspension would void the guarantee in his deal:

Worth noting re: Lane Johnson, per his contract, a suspension would void the guaranteed money in the 5-year extension he signed in January.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 9, 2016

Losing Johnson would also obviously be a huge blow for the Eagles, as he is an important component of their offensive line.