IS STOCKPILING DEFENSEMEN
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.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with 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 started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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