Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is a meat and potatoes kind of guy—literally. A first-round pick by Philadelphia in 2013, the 10-year NFL veteran eats a version of the classic combo for dinner at least two to three times a week, according to his personal chef Justin Massie.
“I try to take the foods he really likes and clean them up a little bit,” says Massie, 36, a California Culinary Academy graduate who served as the executive chef of Newark Airport restaurants before heading up the culinary department for a New Jersey hospital until March 2021. That’s when he reconnected with his longtime friend, Gabe Rangel—a former Marine and athletic performance trainer to Johnson and other pros—and signed on to cook meals that taste good, but also fit the nutritional needs of a 6'6", 325-pound NFL offensive lineman.
During the season, Rangel and Massie collaborate to make sure Johnson is eating around one gram of protein per pound of body weight, which adds up to roughly 300 grams of protein and 4,000 calories each day. During the season, Massie says he spends an average of $300-500 per week on groceries (Trader Joe’s, Wegman’s, Whole Foods and Costco are some of his staple stores to shop) and he preps, cooks and cleans all meals in Johnson’s restaurant-style home kitchen in Moorestown, N.J., about 30 minutes from the Eagles facilities.
