The NFL schedule release has become among the most anticipated days of the year.
After traveling to São Paulo, Brazil for Week 1 last season, the Eagles do not have to worry about any international games in 2025, but an Eagles player appearing on a podcast briefly thought the team would have to play a game more than 7,000 miles away.
Right tackle Lane Johnson appeared Wednesday night on “Green Light with Chris Long.” Johnson had not seen the actual schedule, so his former teammate, Chris Long, seized the opportunity to play a prank.
Long created a fake schedule that included matchups against teams not on the Eagles’ slate and games that would have forced Johnson to face some of the league’s top edge rushers in consecutive weeks. When Johnson reviewed the October portion of Long’s faux schedule, an Oct. 5 game caught him off guard.
“Baltimore Ravens,” Johnson said. “Shanghai. Is this in (expletive) China?”
Although it had previously been discussed, the NFL has never played a game in China. The Eagles also do not play the Ravens this season.
Still a bit shocked, Johnson glanced at the following game, which had the team returning from China for another road game — this time against the Los Angeles Rams. Long explained that it would make sense for the team to remain in California during the week before the game.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s what we’re going to do,” Johnson said. “Leave there, and then we’ll probably just spend that week in L.A.”
Letting the joke run its course, Long admitted the schedule was fake and began to laugh. Johnson was relieved it wasn’t real.
“I was like, there’s no way we’re playing in Shanghai,” Johnson said. “I would have heard that. Touché on that one.”
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Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com.