Justice signs four-year deal; Eagles sign cornerback Pope
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Justice signs four-year deal; Eagles sign cornerback Pope
Bob Brookover
Eagles offensive tackle Winston Justice signed a four-year contract extension today and the team also signed cornerback Geoffrey Pope off the Cincinnati Bengals' practice squad.
A league source told ESPN.com that the deal is worth $18.15 million, including a $6 million signing bonus.
To make room for Pope, the Eagles released cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu, the former fourth-round pick who played in his first NFL game Sunday at Chicago.
Justice was in the final year of his rookie contract and would have either been a restricted or unrestricted free agent, depending on what happens with the collective bargaining agreement.
A four-year deal for Justice would have seemed unlikely at the beginning of training camp, but a season-ending back injury to Shawn Andrews thrust the former second-round pick into a starting role at right tackle and he has made the most of his situation.
"I've come a long way," Justice said. "My offensive line coach (Juan Castillo) always told me that hard work pays off and I took that mindset even when things looked bad. I think hard work does pay off and I think I worked pretty hard."
Pope, 6-foot and 186 pounds, started this season on the Bengals' active roster and appeared in four games, playing mostly on special teams. He was released by the Bengals Oct. 8, then signed to the Cincinnati practice squad the following day.
The Howard University product was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by Miami in 2007, but was released by the Dolphins and spent the entire regular season that year on the New York Giants' practice squad. He was added to the Giants' roster for their four-game postseason run to the Super Bowl, then played in eight games last season with the Bengals.
"I was excited more than anything to get the opportunity," Pope said.
Pope believes he'll be able to pick the Eagles' defensive scheme up quickly because Steve Spagnuolo, the former Eagles assistant, was his defensive coordinator with the Giants.
Eagles-Giants will remain a Sunday night game
In a move that should surprise no one, NBC has decided to keep the Eagles' Dec. 13 game against the New York Giants rather than switch to another game as is their right under the league's flexible scheduling format.
The game is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. at Giants Stadium. The only other games that possibly could have been more attractive were New Orleans at Atlanta, Cincinnati at Minnesota and San Diego at Dallas. Both CBS and Fox have the right to protect games.
With both the Eagles and Giants at 6-4 and in the middle of the NFC East and NFC wildcard races, it would have been foolish for NBC to turn its back on the New York and Philadelphia television markets.
This is the Eagles' fourth and final scheduled primetime game of the season. The remainder of their games are all scheduled for 1 p.m., but that, too, is subject to change.
Poll: Good move by Birds? 
I agree that Andrews, Andrews, and Curtis are expendable. Some coaching staff while you are at it ...— Gringo4- He is horrible... this is one of worst moves I've seen the Eagles make in a long time. Then again.. if McNabb is gone he won't have anyone worthy of protecting anyway...KOLB sucks too! Fire both of them!— I dont think so
- philliekev04, likewise a first career start bad game does not a career make either. MANY star players had bad first games and gone on to illustious careers. As wondo40 says, he got skewered for the Giants game, but kept his nose to the grindstone. Good for you, Winston.— dlscholt
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- you people hoping for shawn andrews to come back and be even close to what he was are on crack. the kid hasnt played in 2 years while fighting off injuries and mental illness. not only that, but he appears more interested in his awful rap career then he is in playing football. i'd be surprised if he ever suited up again. now justice on the otherhand has overcome adversity and a game where he was responsible for 6 sacks to become a nice young RT. i think he has many good years to come in the NFL.— cheesesteak17
- Our gold standard office has made another smart move.— Onlineps2beast
- That's at least 9 more shots at redemption on Osi.— uncle meat
Oh how far the O line has fallen.- They won't release Stacy Andrews, he was signed knowing that this year was pretty much a bust. Stacy probably wouldn't even be playing if the O-line hadn't gotten so eaten up with injuries.— bobf876
- re. Justice - the young man has matured a great deal, and decided that he really wants to play football after all. He's always had the talent but lacked the mindset. He's now properly slotted at RT and should only get better.— CarpGuy
- Jack Ikegwuonu might be an unfortunate victim of circumstances. Given time (which the Eagles do not have now) he might have developed into a decent CB. Let's see. He might be back in the NFL somewhere.— cleansports
- Congrats Winston!— WhatNow
- The only thing these Eagles need to do is get Mike Vick into a real game plan. The rub there is Fat Boy (Reid) doesn't have a game plan for Vick. Deion Sanders says "they have a gold mine over there on the sidelines" in Vick and he knows more about the NFL than does Reid. Get him involved and stop relying on Westbrook & McNabb.— mofeaux
