Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson will reportedly be suspended 10 games after losing his appeal.
Albert Breer of The MMQB passed this information along Tuesday morning, citing lawyer Steve Zashin.
Per lawyer Steve Zashin, Eagles OT Lane Johnson has been informed his 10-game suspension has been upheld.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 11, 2016
After receiving word on the upheld suspension, Johnson’s lawyer issued the following statement.
Statement from Lane Johnson's lawyer he just sent out. pic.twitter.com/Tl5ahVwii6
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 11, 2016
The NFL banned Johnson 10 games before the season began after a positive test for PEDs. However, the league had to wait for his B sample to be tested, which is why there was a delay in the suspension.
Then Johnson appealed, delaying it further. He also attacked the NFLPA for not having his back (more on that here). He alleged that the substance that caused his suspension was cleared by the NFLPA, which was later debunked.
Johnson’s appeal occurred last Tuesday. He called the process “eight hours of bickering.”
“It was eight hours of bickering back and forth and discussing league policy,” Johnson said, via CSNPhilly.com. “It just felt good going in there and taking it head on. It was mainly just a conversation on the policy [the NFL has] in place. It didn’t have to do with any substances, mainly just changing the testing procedures.”
Being that the Eagles have already had their bye week, Johnson will be available to play the final two games of the season.
He is a key cog in Philly’s offensive line and will be missed. However, the Eagles have known the ban was coming since before the season began and have been preparing for this since then.