IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
The Eagles signed cornerback Geoffrey Pope to their 53-man roster and released Jack Ikegwuonu.
Pope started the season on the Cincinnati Bengals' active roster and appeared in four games, playing mostly on special teams. He was waived on Oct. 8, but was signed to their practice squad the next day and had been there since.
He appeared in eight games with the Bengals in 2008, mostly on special teams.
Pope spent most of the 2007 season with the New York Giants. He was on the practice squad for the 2007 regular season and was promoted to the active roster for their Super Bowl run, appearing in both the NFC Divisional game and NFC Championship game.
"My rookie year in the playoffs, I played a lot in the secondary with New York," Pope said. "I guess you could say I've been in a pressure situation before.
Then-Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo ran the system he learned while coaching with the Eagles, which Pope said he feels he'll pick back up pretty easily.
Ikegwuonu was released days after playing in his first NFL game, against Chicago. A fourth-round pick in 2008, he missed all of last season following a knee injury suffered before the draft. He had been considered a first- or second-round talent before the injury. Ikegwuonu was on the practice squad this season, before being moved to the active roster last week in the wake of Joselio Hanson's suspension.
Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said the release "had nothing to do with" Ikegwuonu's knee. He has been working to strengthen the leg muscles around the affected area all season. In the end, the Birds just didn't see enough from Ikegwuonu to make them confident he could play in their defense. He will not be returning to the practice squad.
Tomorrow, the Birds will add Episcopal Academy's Greg Isdaner to their practice squad, agent Stephen Halper and team sources said. Isdaner, an offensive lineman who played at West Virginia, was signed as a rookie free agent by the Cowboys but was released in the preseason. He replaces guard Paul Fanaika, signed off the Eagles' practice squad by Washington this week.
Les Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
