William Leroy "P. J." Pope, Jr. (born February 26, 1984) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. He was signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2006. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. Pope has also played for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

and

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

Early years

Pope attended Wyoming High School in

Wyoming, Ohio Wyoming is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio; It is located approximately 12 miles north of downtown Cincinnati and is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The population was 8,756 at the 2020 census. History Among the earliest European-Ameri ...

, where he excelled in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. During his senior year, Pope ran for 2,230 rushing yards and 36

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s, enough to help him win the "Southern Ohio Player of the Year" Award.

College career

During Pope's career at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

, he managed to become the school's third all-time leading rusher. He became the only player in the school's history to record 3,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

The

signed Pope as an

before the 2006 NFL

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

to compensate for the absence of starting running backs Thomas Jones and

Cedric Benson Cedric Myron Benson (December 28, 1982 – August 17, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns and was recognized as a co ...

. The Bears later cut Pope from the team on September 9, but was shortly re-signed onto the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

Green Bay Packers

The

signed Pope from the Bears' practice squad on October 31, 2006. On August 24, 2007, he was cut along with 11 other players from Green Bay.

Chicago Bears (second stint)

Pope was re-signed to the Bears' practice squad in September 2007. He remained there the entire season and spent the 2008 preseason with the team before being waived on August 29.

Denver Broncos

On August 31, 2008, Pope was signed to the

of the

He was released on October 20, only to be re-signed to following day. Pope was promoted to the Broncos active roster on November 4, a day after

Andre Hall Andre Hall (born August 20, 1982) is a former American football running back. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at South Florida, where he was the school's all-time leading ...

and Michael Pittman were placed on season-ending

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. Pope became the starter when Peyton Hillis also went on

. Pope was waived by the Broncos on February 11, 2009.Broncos Release 5 Players
Yahoo Sports, February 11, 2009

Post NFL Career

Pope was the 8th grade football coach at Wyoming Middle School. As of 2013 he is a varsity assistant at Shroder High School in Cincinnati.

References

External links

Denver Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, P. J. 1984 births Living people Players of American football from Cincinnati African-American players of American football American football running backs Bowling Green Falcons football players Chicago Bears players Green Bay Packers players Denver Broncos players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people