Lane Johnson: Eagles lose ‘a pillar’ in Jason Peters

To Lane Johnson, Jason Peters is so much more than a fellow tackle on the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line.

Johnson sees him as someone who not only is a tremendous player, but also a great leader and a top-flight human being.

‘He means so much, just his leadership and just with everything he’s accomplished on the field’

He sees a major void created by the season-ending torn ACL and MCL Peters suffered in Monday night’s victory against the Washington Redskins.

“Just such a pillar in this organization and team,” Johnson told Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz. “He means so much, just his leadership and just with everything he’s accomplished on the field. He’s just such a good person off the field that I think it gets unnoticed sometimes.”

‘What I’ve been seeing is they’re starting to put some of the best guys on the right’

Second-year pro Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who started at right tackle as a rookie last season while Johnson served a suspension, finished Monday night’s game in Peters’ place on the left side. Whether Vaitai will remain at left tackle or perhaps switch spots with Johnson is unknown.

“I’m not sure,” Johnson said. “I’ll talk to the coaches (Wednesday) and we’ll talk about the game plan with that. But what I’ve been seeing is they’re starting to put some of the best guys on the right. You’ve got (Denver’s) Von Miller in two weeks, you’ve got (Oakland’s) Khalil Mack, went against (Ryan) Kerrigan (Monday) night. So it’s tough on both edges nowadays.

‘My rookie year, I think everything started turning around as far as learning curve probably Week 8, Week 9’

“But we have full confidence in ‘V’. … The way I put it is, my rookie year, I think everything started turning around as far as learning curve probably Week 8, Week 9. And that’s what you see in him. He’s getting a lot better.”