Lane Johnson is 36 years old and just entered the 14th training camp of his illustrious NFL career. He’s not blowing smoke. So when you hear the excitement in Johnson’s voice as he talks about the new Eagles offense under coordinator Sean Mannion, it’s probably worth listening. “The offense that we’re doing is entirely different,” Johnson said after Day 1 of camp. “Under-center, play-action, wide-zone, consistent with that. I think as far as spreading the ball, I think there will be a lot of that. Each guy getting more touches. “What I like about this is that everything looks very complex to the defense. To the offense, it’s pretty simplified. Obviously, we’ve got to pick up on communication and cadence and stuff. But it’s very O-line friendly compared to maybe some past years that I’ve been involved in. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to the offense. First day, guys getting jitters out and getting the first practice under their belt is big.” Johnson is especially excited about the guard help he’s going to get in pass protection after years of living on an island against the NFL’s very best pass rushers. But it goes beyond that. He sees the general benefits of a Shanahan scheme for the entire offense. “When we’re under center, it’s so hard for the defense to tell if it’s a run or play action,” Johnson said. “Instead of (the defense) getting off the ball, now it’s a lot more hesitation, a lot more reading from them. I believe this offense does a good job of setting us up for success.” There are going to be some growing pains as the Eagles install a brand new offensive scheme. We saw a few of those moments on Wednesday with pre-snap penalties, but that’s to be expected. Once the plays got off, the Eagles actually looked pretty crisp. Even though Mannion coached just two seasons before being hired by Nick Sirianni this offseason, the Eagles don’t seem concerned about his inexperience. In fact, most of his players have been raving about Mannion since the hire. “I think Coach (Mannion) is going to be just fine,” Jalen Hurts said. “He’s got a lot of structure and a lot of intentionality behind what he does.” On Day 1 of training camp, we already began to see the staples of this new offense. The Eagles were under center a ton and ran play-action looks off of it. They used motion and misdirection more frequently. Hurts was throwing to the middle of the field and checked it down to his backs. The wide-zone running scheme has taken over too. What does Saquon Barkley think about this new rushing offense? “Definitely gives you a lot of advantages, especially when you’re able to marry it up with everything else,” Barkley said. “For me, I feel like I have a chance to be really good in this system too. I’ve seen it from afar but now actually studying it and working it and trying to put myself in the system, I feel like it’s going to open up some things that I may not have been able to show as much in my career. I’m excited for that.” Barkley was already busy on Day 1. He took quite a few handoffs, but he also caught the ball out of the backfield.  After catching 70 passes over his first two seasons in the NFL, Barkley thinks there might be more opportunities for him to be used as a receiver in this new offense, especially if he doesn’t have to stay in to block as much. “I believe so,” Barkley said. “I like that way that our protection is. Kind of friendly to the running back. I feel like it might give me a little bit more opportunity to get out and be involved in the pass game.” It’s not like the concepts we’re going to see under Mannion are ground-breaking. These elements have been around for a long time, but they just haven’t been utilized as much here in Philly in recent years. Hurts pointed that out on Wednesday when asked about how he feels under center. While he has primarily lived in shotgun during his NFL career, he has had reps under center in the league. The Eagles are just doing more of that in 2026 — along with plenty of other things they hope will help this unit reach its full potential. That has the team pretty excited. “I think the No. 1 thing is the work and the repetition and getting the opportunity to get that in,” Hurts said. “You go throughout the spring, you take it as it comes, you spend time with your teammates, you grow, you embrace every rep, you’re intentional about every rep. And then you come back here and you kind extend that process even more.  “I’m not at the season yet. I’m taking this one day at a time here, trying to build with everybody and make sure we’re all on the same page. That’s going to make it go.” ...read more read less