Eagles Do What Would Have Been Unthinkable A Few Years Ago

I think we all remember the Sunday Night Football debacle in 2007 against the New York Giants where McNabb was sacked 12 times, 6 of which were off of Winston Justice. At that point, we all figured that Reid's 2nd round draft pick in the 2006 draft was a complete bust. Well, not so fast, Justice has started every game this year and it turns out that he's pretty decent. So decent in fact that the Eagles have given him a contract extension which includes a $6 million signing bonus. From ESPN.com

Justice's deal is worth $18.15 million, including a $6 million signing bonus, a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The team announced the deal on Tuesday. Justice could have become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

A second-round pick in 2006, Justice has started every game this season when Shawn Andrews was placed on IR after Justice started only one in his first three years in the NFL. He replaced Shawn Andrews, who didn't take a snap and was placed on injured reserve with a season-ending back injury.

And yet to think that this is the right move to make. The guy was in his 2nd year, too young, and going up against Osi Umenyiora in that game, his first NFL start, so I'm not sure we can really blame him that much for what happened, but regardless, after that game and well into that next year, he was chastised for that and was the butt of most jokes around these parts. Now he's turned his game around and in my view, he has earned that extension. Let's hope he continues to improve and does not regress at all.