Fred Johnson earned Eagles’ key swing tackle job under Jeff Stoutland’s tutelage: ‘He was in my grill 24/7’

Jeff Stoutland’s voice became a familiar, but unwanted sound for Fred Johnson last season.

The offensive tackle joined the Eagles’ practice squad last year with his NFL future hanging in the balance, and he knew it. Reading play cards to discern his assignment before lining up against the Eagles’ starting edge rushers already was stressful, but Stoutland’s intense feedback between plays sometimes was enough to overwhelm him.

“After like every rep on scout team, he would come run up and tell me what I did wrong,” Johnson said Wednesday. “While I have to look at a card and go play the next play against Josh Sweat or Haason Reddick or something like that. It was just very hands-on. He was in my grill 24/7.

“He was coaching me like I was a starter. I got tired of it. I was like, ‘Please, stop.’”

Johnson’s lightbulb moment came a few months into his Eagles tenure and has led to him earning an important spot on the depth chart entering the season. The 27-year-old, who said he eventually realized Stoutland was trying to “build him up” rather than “belittle him,” made the Eagles’ 53-man roster earlier this week after a summer spent as the first tackle off the bench when Jordan Mailata or Lane Johnson missed a few plays.

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As an undrafted free agent out of Florida, Fred Johnson began his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019 as a guard. He moved to tackle with the Cincinnati Bengals the following season and started six games in 2020, but was waived after the 2021 season.

After a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended in his release midway through the 2022 campaign, Johnson signed with the Eagles with shaken confidence and a pessimistic outlook on his chance to stick in the NFL.

“I was mad at any and everybody,” Johnson said. “I was on practice squad, bounced around the league a couple times. Once you hit rock bottom, you hit rock bottom. It’s either you keep going down or you build yourself back up. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Stout and Lane telling me, ‘You got it. Just figure it out.’”

Johnson said Stoutland’s system required him to learn a technique he’d never used before, which contributed to the constant correction from the Eagles’ offensive line coach and run-game coordinator. He just wasn’t ready to receive it.

“When I got here, I was so hardheaded,” Johnson said. “I ain’t want to listen to nobody, especially Stout. And Stout just said, ‘I’m not going quit on you. I’m not going to give up on you.’ That’s just something that I appreciate him the most for, because I was on my way out the league when I got here last year.”

At 6-foot-7, 326 pounds, Johnson physically fits in among the Eagles’ group of gargantuan tackles. Although he played right guard in college, his length and wide base are prototypical for an NFL tackle and part of why the team signed him to a two-year contract coming out of training camp last year.

His development could be crucial for the Eagles this season. Lane Johnson, 34, has missed seven games in the last three years, and the team has struggled mightily without the All-Pro in the lineup during his career. Fred Johnson appears to be the primary backup at both right and left tackle, something he said he’s comfortable with, increasing the likelihood he’ll be called into action.

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After the team’s second preseason game against the New England Patriots, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni singled out Johnson as someone who had shown the most progress during training camp.

“I think Fred Johnson is continuing to develop as a really solid football player,” Sirianni said. “He works his butt off. 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 put in to develop at his position. And I’m really pleased with how Fred has worked, his toughness, and just his ability to improve each day. And you can see that ... you asked me for a guy, that’s the guy I’ll single out right there. I’m proud of Fred for all the work he’s put in to get himself to where he is right now.”

Johnson said Sirianni’s comments got back to him by way of a text from his mom, but the positive reinforcement may not have been as effective as the tough love from his O-line coach in the years leading up to it.

“It got back to me,” Johnson said. “My mom sent it to me, she was like ‘Look at my baby,’ I was like, ‘Please, just chill.’ It meant a lot, because I work hard, so it’s good to see that appreciation from someone else, especially the head coach.”

“I think that next day, I had the worst practice of camp. So it kind of went over my head pretty quickly.”