Johnson awaits suspension, says 'I feel players have no rights'

Lane Johnson practiced with the second team offensive line Saturday, as the Eagles began preparing for a Johnson suspension that everyone, including Johnson, assumes is coming.

The Eagles' right tackle is facing a possible 10-game ban for taking what he said was an amino acid supplement whose label he'd scanned through the NFLPA's approved Aegis phone app. Johnson served a four-game suspension for taking what apparently was Adderall without a therapeutic exemption in 2014.

Johnson said he bought the supplement online. Of course, the app has no way of determing whether there is anything in the container that isn't on the label. The NFL's stance is that players are responsible for whatever ends up in their urine samples.

"I talked to the NFLPA. They do not test the products, so there is no backing from them," Johnson said. "That's all I know right now. I'm waiting for my B sample to come in. That'll be probably in two or three weeks ... Everything I've taken was approved by the NFLPA Aegis shield app, and that's the only thing the NFLPA gives us to test our products."

An NFLPA spokesman confirmed that the union does not test supplements. "While the app may have listed (the label ingredients) with a green check, players are reminded within the app, at team meetings, and as part of policy that, A. Supplements may contain stuff not on the label, and B. Still strict liability (to the player) for putting it in your body if it contains something not on the label," the spokesman said via text.

Johnson said this is quite different than two years ago.

"The first time, I knew I was at fault. There's no worse feeling than having to go through this again. This is something that I definitely wanted to avoid. It's nothing I ever wanted to be a part of again. I learned my lesson.

"I feel like the players have no rights. I feel, the supplement industry is not regulated, so you do not know what's in it. (That's) hard to believe, coming from a second-time offender, but I want that to be clear, that the NFLPA does not stand up for players. They don't check the supplements, They give us an app. Then when you call them and ask 'em, if you test positive for something they approve, it doesn't matter."

Johnson, the fourth player taken in the 2013 draft, said that team trainers also just read the labels for prohibited ingredients, that the team and the league also do not get involved in testing substances. "It costs a lot of money to test each individual product," he said.

In Saturday's practice, veteran Allen Barbre moved from left guard to right tackle and third-round rookie Isaac Seumalo moved in at left guard, despite a mistake-filled preseason opener Thursday, in which Seumalo said he overthought what he was doing and stymied himself.

Johnson said his attorney is having the supplement he took tested, but even if it turns out there are ingredients present that aren't on the label, it won't matter to the league. He said he has little hope that his B sample will test any differently than the initial one.

"I'm still going to get suspended," Johnson said. "It's been a nightmare. I've known this for a couple weeks, and had to come out here like nothing's wrong. That's been the hardest thing. The last thing I wanted to be labeled as is a cheater, (for) my son to look me in the eye and say, 'Hey daddy, what are you doing?' I have nothing to hide, so I'm moving forward, from that standpoint."

Asked about the team moving on, putting Barbre in Johnson's spot, Johnson said: "That's smart of them."