THINGS HAVE HAPPENED this Eagles season, more than a few of them bad, that no one would have predicted 4 months ago.

Winston Justice tops the other side of the ledger.

Sure, rookie weapons LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin have thrilled, and the second-year improvement of DeSean Jackson has been important, as has the blossoming of Brent Celek. But the most unforeseen, most clutch guy to step up? It has to be Justice, thought to be forever marked by what might have been the worst game ever played by an Eagles offensive lineman, two seasons ago, hardly deemed worthy of a roster spot when training camp began. All he has done is start every game at right tackle, looking steady and solid.

The Eagles demonstrated their belief in Justice's unlikely redemption yesterday when they announced a 4-year contract extension, which a source close to the situation said is worth about $18.7 million, with a $6 million signing bonus. NFL sources told the Daily News that if you infer that Justice was going to play next season under a restricted free-agent tender - he would have become an unrestricted free agent only if there were a new collective bargaining agreement - then you could look at it as an average of about $5.7 million a year for the 3 "new" years, which is top-flight starter money.

Even if you don't factor it that way, Justice will average significantly more than the $2.5 million or so injured right tackle Shawn Andrews is scheduled to make next season, assuming Andrews is able to return to football after essentially missing two entire seasons with back problems. Eagles general manager Tom Heckert and Justice said yesterday they view the 2006 second-round draft pick as the team's starting right tackle, going forward. Another source said the Eagles view the pact as very much a "quality starter" deal.

Heckert said that the question of whether Justice would start ahead of Andrews "is really irrelevant right now."

"Yeah," Heckert said, when asked whether Justice is the starter now. "We obviously thought enough of Winston to think he's our starting right tackle. That's the way it is right now."

Asked the same question, Justice said he believes he will start, but isn't taking anything for granted.

"Yeah. God willing, I can be able to keep that," he said. "That's why I work before and after practice every day. I think everyone is in that same boat as I am. That's why the NFL is 'not for long.' There's always someone else coming."

Justice showed up at Lehigh this summer scheduled to back up Andrews, who was moved from right guard to right tackle when the Eagles elected not to bring back Jon Runyan, who signed with the San Diego Chargers last night.

Andrews' surgically repaired back began acting up again right away, and he eventually went on injured reserve. Justice, who had worked especially hard last offseason, staying in town and drilling with offensive line coach Juan Castillo, stepped in seamlessly.

"I don't wish bad upon anybody. It was a good opportunity that opened up for me," Justice said. "As I played more, as I had more reps, my confidence grew more and more. I think a lot of playing in the NFL is confidence. You have to have faith in your technique. You have to have faith that what your coaches are telling you is actually going to work. I think that grew, the more reps I got."

Agent Eric Kaufman called Justice "a dedicated, hardworking football player, who brings his lunch pail every day."

Now he can afford to buy lunch.

Before this season, Justice's only start had come Sept. 30, 2007, at left tackle, against the Giants. The Giants sacked Donovan McNabb a dozen times in winning, 16-3, and though the Eagles said Justice was responsible for "only" four of the sacks, he definitely was the epicenter of the mess. Former Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas went on the radio and famously questioned Justice's heart. Justice said the only way he could answer meaningfully was on the field, but it took a long time for that to happen.

Heckert said the organization never wrote off Justice. (Though there was a time when he was playing guard and was at the bottom of the depth chart.)

"I know everybody talks about the Giants game, but we see him every day in practice," Heckert said. "You look throughout the league and the top left tackles, top right tackles, they get beat; it happens in the NFL. There was never a point where we said, 'This guy can't play' . . . He had to come out and if he got the opportunity to play, he had to prove that he could do it, and line up against the top guys and be productive, and he's done that this year."

Justice, 25, who can still reach free agency before he turns 30, said the money in the new deal wasn't the most crucial thing.

"It feels better that the staff and the coaches have that much faith in me now," he said. "That aspect feels better than the whole financial security part of it."

Birds blessed by Pope

 

The Eagles signed corner Geoffrey Pope off the Bengals' practice squad yesterday, jettisoning 2008 fourth-round draft pick Jack Ikegwuonu.

Pope has split the past two seasons between Cincinnati's active roster and the practice squad. He spent the 2007 season on the Giants' practice squad, but when injuries struck, he was promoted to the active roster for their Super Bowl run, appearing in both the NFC Divisional Game and the 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 with the Eagles, which Pope said he thinks he'll pick back up pretty easily.

Ikegwuonu was released days after playing in his first NFL game, against Chicago. He missed all of last season following a knee injury suffered before the draft, and came up from the practice squad this month after Joselio Hanson was suspended.

Birdseed

 

The Eagles' rematch with the Giants, Dec. 13, will remain a night game and will not be changed under the "flex scheduling" concept, the league said . . . The Birds will add Episcopal Academy's Greg Isdaner to their practice squad, agent Stephen Halper and team sources said. *

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read

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www.eagletarian.com.