Eagles sign Winston Justice to 4 year extension
by JasonB on Nov 24, 2009 12:04 PM EST
in News
41 comments
With the Eagles offense line in constant flux this year, one of the few constants has come from probably the most surprising place. Once written off as a second round bust, Winston Justice took over the starting RT job when Shawn Andrews was unable to start the season and has spent the season changing the minds of fans and generally redeeming himself. Today, the Eagles rewarded him with a 4 year extension.
The Eagles have signed right tackle Winston Justice to a four-year contract extension through 2013. Justice's rookie contract was due to expire at season's end.
It's interesting that the contract came just a few days after what Philly.com called his "best performance of the season."
I don't know what got in to Justice, but he was an absolute beast in the run game. By far his best performance of the season in that area, and I don't even think it's close. Great block on Vick’s 34-yard run and several others, including McCoy's 3rd-and-1 conversion in the third. Not just adequate. He was taking guys to the ground. In the pass game, he was solid as usual. Really one of the great stories on this team this season.
One has to wonder what this means about the Eagles' future expectations of Shawn Andrews. If they've decided Winston Justice is their guy at RT, Peters is the guy LT, Herremans is entrenched at LG... Shawn Andrews doesn't play center... So it appears if he does get another shot next year it's at RG or nothing. With Stacy Andrews due a large amount of guarantees if he's on the team next year, it looks like it will be one Andrews or the other. Or neither I guess...
Regardless, today isn't about Shawn Andrews. It's about Winston Justice. What a great story of redemption, hard work, self belief, perseverance. He still has learning to do and will get better, but so far I'm very impressed with what he's accomplished this year. Congratulations.
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debacle..
I think that would be the proper word for it.
"Eagles fans are a passionate group who love their team," said McNabb, "if not the actual players. It's not like winning a Super Bowl before the first month of the season is the hardest thing they've ever asked of me. That'd be all those times they asked me to go kill myself."
by greenbean#twoOH on Nov 24, 2009 3:45 PM EST up reply actions
Maybe they're hedging their bets
And betting that they’ll get at least one healthy Andrews. If Shawn returns to All Pro form at RG, great. Stacy can back him up. If he doesn’t, then he’ll get sent packing and Stacy will get the chance to win the job.
Stacy wont be a backup next year, that would be way too much $$$ for a backup.
by philiafan14364 on Nov 24, 2009 3:32 PM EST up reply actions
Nice...
…this is a really great story. I for one will readily admit that I wanted Justice publicly flogged after the ‘07 game against the Giants. But sometimes the light just goes on and we’re lucky it did. Good kid – glad it happened to him. He’s earned it.
This goes firmly in the “If you had told me this 6 months ago, I’d have told you that you were crazy” category.
Looking forward to seeing the details. Can’t imagine it could be for an exorbitant amount, but with free agency looming at the end of the year, Justice had more leverage than most youngsters the Eagles have extended in season in recent years.
Does anybody know how much the cap hit will be if Stacy gets cut by the end of this season? That waste needs to go, his contract is pretty big.
Also congrats Winston, transforming into a better player as well as person earned you the extension.
Andy Reid is 43-5 when running the ball at least 30 times in a game( Ray Diddy on Eagles Post Game Live after Bears Victory)
by Route36 on Nov 24, 2009 12:35 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Almost nothing. Stacy’s deal is big looking, but there’s little to no guaranteed money until after this year.
We have to be realistic about him though. He had major knee surgery at the conclusion of last season. We heard a million times when McNabb was coming off his knee surgery that it’s not right until a full year after the reconstruction. I would imagine that’s doubly true for an offensive lineman, who gets almost all of their power from their base.
Good.
Seriously, It’s been a while. I don’t think Andy would have signed him if he didn’t think Stacy looked good enough to play this year. Even if he is playing at 85 percent, he has shown NOTHING that indicates he can be a good right guard. Not even a flash. I would rather take my chances with a 1-3 round rookie RG.
Andy Reid is 43-5 when running the ball at least 30 times in a game( Ray Diddy on Eagles Post Game Live after Bears Victory)
http://www.eaglescap.com/Players/StacyAndrews.html
check out that site. It has all the details. Looks like its nothing.
In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard.
-Theodore Roosevelt
Not to toot toot
but i said all along that people were way too hard on Justice in 2007
Dont Disrespect the Level
In the end, it was one game. One game where a guy made his first start against one of the best DEs in the game at a position he never really played in college or obviously the pros. He was a RT at USC.
Well said. I had written him off but I’m glad he’s gotten to where he has and look forward to the road ahead.
by andyreidswaistline on Nov 24, 2009 1:03 PM EST up reply actions
700 I agree
To early to write him off. And Reid did him no favors by helping him out. He was basically thrown to the wolves and he did the best he could with no real practice or game play before that. So he was really raw going against one of the best defensive lines.
Congrats to him and I hope he only gets better with experience!!
They definitely were.
That being said, he showed very little after that (before this year) that indicated that he could be a competent NFL starter. They even had quotes from surprised coaches in training camp this year saying, “Believe it or not, Winston’s been playing really well.” His 180 is nothing short of astounding.
Be honest Jason
If I had said back in 2007, “In two years Shawn Andrews is going to be done and Winston Justice is going to be our RT of the future” … would I have been banned from this site? ;-)
You’d have been assigned jibta status.
by andyreidswaistline on Nov 24, 2009 1:14 PM EST up reply actions
Morals of this story
- - There is a difference between LT and RT
- - Just because someone is a dissapointment at one position doesn’t mean he cannot play football
- - Sometimes it’s true that you just need someone to believe in you.
I for one am quite happy for Justice, who seems a fine man.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." - Bear Bryant
The Blind SIde
If you read the book, it really goes into the importance of the Left Tackle and it also has the Oher Story(Which is the part the movie is based off of). Its a good read.
Excellent movie
I thought they did an excellent job on the movie, and except for a little hollywod-ization, it very closely tracked Oher’s story. Who cares if he says some brash stuff? Great story, great movie, especially good for youth to see.
"Sometimes, children, fear is an appropriate response"
“There is a difference between LT and RT "
Are we sure that was the issue? Could it have been that at the time, he just wasnt a very good player? I bet if you put him at LT this year, hed at least be average.
by philiafan14364 on Nov 24, 2009 3:37 PM EST up reply actions
JIBTA IS GOING TO BE UPSET
Eagles add CB Pope off the Saints Practice squad and waive Jack Ikegwuonu…. the Eagles are making some moves today, I’ll tell ya what!
In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard.
-Theodore Roosevelt
This was my most hated player in the world in 07
I go to a game every other year, and that year i took my friend and i to the meadowlands
I wanted this dude cut, right then and there…I got so much hate thrown at me but i tried to not let it ruin my experience
I must say, hes been really good. So congrats, way to make me eat crow
congrats
to justice on the extension. i was on the banwagon of people who thought justice should never play for the eagles again but im glad to see he proved me wrong. he seems like a solid player at right tackle.
Have we learned nothing?
Re: whether or not Andrews has a future here if Justice, Herremans and Peters are entrenched (along with Jamaal Jackson, I guess), I’d say I want all of these guys back:
Stacy Andrews, Shawn Andrews, Nick Cole and MJG. Plus a draft pick or two, potentially.
You can never have too much OL depth. Every team gets OL hurt during the season and we’ve been fortunate to have Cole and Jean-Gilles around when our problems have arisen.
And obviously, if people are giving up on Stacy Andrews so soon, they’re missing the whole point of Winston Justice’s redemptive story.
WJ’s new deal sounds reasonable. Like all of you, I am quite happy with his play this year.
Still waiting for the Eagles to Bring It Home For Jerome
But...
The problem is, you can’t keep the Andrews brothers at the price you’d have to pay for them. They’re eating up too much salary cap room and have proven to be unreliable. It would be better to cut them loose and move on to a wiser investment elsewhere.
I agree/Let me rephrase
It’s understood that they’re too expensive to keep around as full-time backups. But I think it’s too early to give up on Stacy with his recovery from injury, and Shawn’s talent means we should at least look into giving him another shot if the coaches are fairly confident he’s over whatever’s going on in his back and his head.
If I’m reading correctly, it’s only $1 million in dead money and $3.5 in salary for Shawn, so if he can go at his previous level, seems like a good investment for a stud RG. If he can’t, we can always cut him, but I’d like to see him come to camp and give it one more shot.
If the team decides Cole and/or MJG are better investments, I’m certainly all for that too, as both guys have proven themselves.
I guess this is my same logic as the McNabb+Kolb or just hand the reins to Kolb; I’d rather have more talent/options on the roster than less.
If we use the savings to sign our young studs to new deals, I would also be okay with that
Still waiting for the Eagles to Bring It Home For Jerome
It almost seems like Stacy’s contract was made so that they could cut both brothers at the same time if Shawn didn’t get his act together. They knew 2010 would be Shawn’s last chance, and after that there is no penalty for cutting him, so making Stacy’s contract the same way just makes too much sense.
by Clyde Simmons on Nov 25, 2009 10:09 AM EST up reply actions
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