Eagles veterans report for mandatory minicamp Friday evening. Unless something unexpected occurs, the row of locker stalls where the cornerbacks dress is going to get a little crowded.

There will be Asante Samuel, the $57 million free-agent signee, whom Eagles coach Andy Reid already has designated as the starter on the left side. There will be incumbent starter Sheldon Brown, who felt he deserved a Pro Bowl berth last season. And there will be Lito Sheppard, a two-time Pro Bowler who felt he was underpaid and wanted to be traded even before Samuel came aboard.

It's tempting to say the Eagles will be trying to wedge three very healthy egos into two starting jobs, but the fact is, Samuel isn't being wedged. His job isn't in jeopardy. Instead, Sheppard and Brown, the guys who have been virtual brothers since they arrived in the first and second rounds of the 2002 draft, respectively, are going to fight it out for the right-side job, presumably. The guy who doesn't win suddenly becomes a nickel corner, in the prime of his career, his seventh NFL season. That will go over well, leaving aside resentments over money.

This was the biggest development of an odd, anticlimactic Eagles draft weekend.

The one thing you thought you knew going in was that the Birds were going to trade Sheppard, probably for something like the second- and fifth-round draft choices the Falcons got when they traded DeAngelo Hall. Team sources had hinted the offers were in that range; one report said the Eagles were deciding last week whether to accept the Saints' second-round pick, 40th overall.

Well, the Saints used that pick to draft a cornerback, Tracy Porter. And suddenly, it was yesterday evening, and Andy Reid was explaining in his postdraft wrapup press conference that the offers this weekend for Sheppard were "not significant ones."

Neither Sheppard nor Brown returned calls seeking comment last night. Agent Peter Schaffer would say only that he continues to expect a positive outcome. Schaffer wouldn't say exactly what that would be, and wouldn't say whether Sheppard will attend minicamp. Reid indicated that Sheppard would not be excused from minicamp, and said: "He's part of this football team, just like everybody else."

There were reports going into draft weekend that the Eagles actually were looking for a first-round pick for Sheppard, not a second. Then there were whispers that the revised contract Sheppard would want from his new team might be a problem for a player who has missed 14 games with assorted injuries over the past three seasons.

Result: No trade. Yet, anyway.

"It gives us one great opportunity for a nice secondary. The way to use him is just like we used Bobby Taylor, Al Harris and Troy Vincent," Reid said. "We just rotated all of them like they were starters in our eyes. Just let them play, that's the way I look at this secondary."

A cynic might suggest a few problems with Reid's recollection. Actually, Vincent and Taylor were the starters earlier this decade; that "third starter" stuff was just a way to try to appease Harris. And after a few years, as Harris entered his prime, it didn't work anymore. They had to trade Harris, so he could be a real starter.

It might have been as bogus as all the talk about the substantive offers for Sheppard turned out to be, but Reid didn't flatly reject the possibility of some sort of contract revision.

"We'll talk about all that," he said. "I'll talk to Lito about that."

Reid also said: "Something will be worked out."

Was he talking about a trade or a contract revision? Probably the former, but as Rickey Watters once said, "For who, for what?"

Then there was this draft business. You might have heard by now that the Eagles again traded out of the first round, finding Carolina's offer of a second-rounder and a fourth-rounder this weekend, plus a first-rounder next season, too good to pass up for the 19th overall pick. The Eagles then sent one of their fourth-rounders to Miami for running back Lorenzo Booker, a third-round pick of the Dolphins a year ago.

Reid seems to regard Booker as a significant acquisition. This trade might have solved the mystery of Tony Hunt, the Penn State running back the Birds drafted in the third round last year, then buried on the bench. Reid allowed as how the Eagles wanted to draft Booker in '07, but, "We couldn't pull it off." Miami took Booker 71st overall. Presumably, the Birds were hoping he would last until 90th, where they eventually grabbed Hunt.

"He does some of the same things that Brian Westbrook does," Reid said of Booker. "You can flex him out and throw him the football."

Reid hinted that he might put Westbrook and Booker on the field at the same time, one in the backfield, one presumably lined up in the slot.

The Eagles probably can expect to get a reasonable contribution this season from their first-day acquisitions - Booker and second-rounders Trevor Laws, a defensive tackle, and DeSean Jackson, a returner/wideout.

The Birds got an undersized third-round defensive end, 6-2, 231-pound Bryan Smith from McNeese State, who drew praise at the combine from Eagles' defensive line coach Pete Jenkins. Jenkins thought he saw a little Trent Cole in Smith.

It's a bit of a surprise that with Brian Dawkins turning 35 this season, they didn't go for a safety until the fourth round, when extremely confident Quintin Demps arrived from UTEP.

"I'm not a Pro Bowl player, I'm a Super Bowl player," declared Demps, who recalled picking off Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb twice in a game.

Nobody who has followed the Reid Era could have been surprised that the Birds added three offensive linemen on the second day of the draft, led by Pittsburgh's versatile Mike McGlynn, who also does some long-snapping. (The others were sixth-round Cal guard Mike Gibson and seventh-round Auburn tackle King Dunlap.) Back at the combine, McGlynn was asked how he would describe himself. "Tough," he said. "When you line up against me, you know you're going to have to bring your lunchpail. I like to get after guys, play from whistle to whistle."

The only corner the Eagles got in the draft - fourth-rounder Jack Ikegwuonu from Wisconsin - won't play this season after blowing out his MCL and ACL preparing for the draft. That might be an indication that the team actually does plan to hang on to Sheppard.

Their other two picks were linebackers, Joe Mays from North Dakota State and Andy Studebaker from tiny Wheaton, both in the sixth round. The Birds ended up adding 10 players, not including Booker.

And keeping one they were supposed to trade. *