John Goodman (no, not that one) was a DE for 5 years in the NFL. He faced some great OTs in his days. Goodman raves about Lane Johnson and his natural ability.
“He’s the type of guy that can punch and end and still get off and cover a blitzing safety or ’backer up the field. He’s got the ability to get to the second — or even third — level. That’s going to be one of his strengths, getting downfield, because he’s so athletic and so fast.”
Sounds good, huh? One small problem. Goodman is biased, since he is Johnson’s father-in-law.
“He was hands-down the best OT in the Big 12 and because he wasn’t promoted and played long enough he was second, third team type. Anybody that knew his potential knew there wasn’t a better offensive tackle in the Big 12. He used that as motivation. He went out there at the Senior Bowl and rose to the challenge, played the whole game and didn’t bail out after one series like Fisher did.
“He went and played the whole game, played like it was his last game. That’s what he’ll do. He wasn’t out there to protect himself. He was out there to compete. He’ll do the same thing [in the NFL].”
I tend to agree with much of what Goodman says, but you can’t ignore the relationship when discussing his comments. Goodman gave Johnson the ultimate compliment when he compared him to Anthony Munoz, arguably the best OT of all time. If Johnson can be 80 percent of what Munoz was, the Eagles will have made a great pick.
Both fisher and Joekel look stiff. Will see how Lane protects Vick’s blindside