A pro football dream came to fruition on Sept. 12, 2021, in the first week of the NFL season for Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Patrick Johnson.
After reading the handoff from quarterback Matt Ryan, Johnson swooped into the Atlanta Falcons’ backfield to upend running back Mike Davis in the first quarter of a 32-6 road win for the Eagles. The moment was surreal for Johnson, a Chattanooga native who graduated from Notre Dame High School in 2017 after starring on the football field for the Fighting Irish.
“That was my very first NFL tackle in my rookie debut, and it came on my second defensive snap,” said Johnson, a three-time all-conference selection during his college days at Tulane in New Orleans. “To play against the team I grew up cheering for was an unreal experience. To be out there going against a guy like Matt Ryan, who I grew up idolizing, was really cool. All my dreams came true that day, and it is one I will cherish forever.”
It was the first of multiple highlights from a rookie season in which the 6-foot-2, 248-pound Johnson helped the Eagles earn a wild-card spot in the NFC playoffs, with the team bouncing back from a 3-6 start to finish the regular season 9-8 overall.
In the 10th week of the season at Denver, Johnson nearly picked off a sideline pass by the Broncos’ Teddy Bridgewater and might have been able to return it for a touchdown had he secured the interception. Two weeks earlier, his potential for disrupting the passing game in another way was on display when Johnson bull-rushed Detroit Lions tackle Penei Sewell into quarterback Jared Goff to force an errant throw in the red zone.