It wasn't that each player considered himself an every-down corner, though ego surely played a big part. What made the situation so difficult for the players to navigate was a lack of direct instruction from the head coach. Not a face-to-face word.

"We sat down like men and worked it out," Vincent said yesterday. "No one pulled us in and said, 'This is what we'd like.' We always had to read about it in the paper. I think guys want to be treated like professionals. It's a lesson learned. It was tough."

The great communicator Reid isn't, but he must do better this time or else the cornerback situation with Lito Sheppard, Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel will ruin the Eagles' 2008 season before it begins. If you think off-season turmoil can't carry over to the regular season, just look back to those educational T.O. days.

Here's what Reid should have done after signing Samuel to that monster contract in February and what he must do today when the Eagles' minicamp begins (if he didn't do it last night after the team convened): Sit down with Sheppard, Brown and Samuel and honestly discuss how this three-man rotation of veteran corners will work. Explain his expectations to each player. Listen to their concerns and gripes. Don't be averse to conflict. Communicate.

If history is any indicator, Reid won't do that, and that would be a huge mistake.

If Reid believes, as he said last weekend, that Sheppard is more valuable as an Eagle than as a trading chip, it's essential he defuse what has become a combative situation. Sheppard wants to restructure his contract. He's also unhappy Reid so casually anointed Samuel the Eagles' starting left corner - the position Sheppard has held for the last four seasons - in February. Brown doesn't like the way his best friend on the team has been treated, and he isn't interested in moving to safety, as has been mentioned, to make room for Samuel and Sheppard to start.

Through no fault of his own, Samuel enters the Eagles' locker room as the villain rather than as a two-time Super Bowl champion who is supposed to improve the defense.

Sheppard and Brown are reasonable people. They are strong and opinionated, but they are not troublemakers. Yes, they want to make as much money as possible and should remember they signed early contract extensions for a reason, but they also want to win a title.

If Reid would talk to Sheppard, who has rarely played a full 16-game season because of injury problems, and Brown, they might not like what he had to say, but they would respect it. Neither player will go into the tank, but ignoring them is not a viable option. Both players carry significant sway in the locker room - not Brian Dawkins sway, but pretty close.

As of lunchtime yesterday, Brown said Reid had not talked to him about the cornerback situation.

Sheppard said yesterday that he and Reid met recently.

Reid had no comment yesterday, but team president Joe Banner said the feedback he got from player agents was that players respect the Eagles.

"Andy's reputation around the league and our ability to get players in free agency leaves me feeling confident he is doing a good job," Banner said. "It might not be perfect, but it's pretty good. . . . Andy is a strong and good communicator."

Does all this sound familiar? It did to Vincent.

"He's the head coach, so if he believes it works, it works," said Vincent, who was a Pro Bowl selection all five seasons he played for Reid. "We've had to learn a lesson because we've seen different results when we communicate the way we've communicated."

On Sunday, Reid likened his cornerback quandary - my word, not his - to the days of Vincent, Taylor and Harris. "We just rotated all of them," Reid said, "and they were all starters in our eyes."

"The two situations are similar but are very different," said Harris, who was a rookie in 1998 and played in every game, starting 14 times, in the four seasons he played for Reid. "All three of those guys have been starters now. I had never been a starter. . . . We had somewhat of an understanding, me, Bobby and Troy. I knew I was the third corner. Did I think I could start? Yeah. Was I ready? Probably not. That's where our situation was different."

"There was a little friction," Vincent said, "because Al . . . felt he had worked his way to being a starter, and he has proven that throughout his career since he left. Because we were mature, we were able to talk about it because we had to talk about it. No one talked about it for us.

"It's easy now to make the comparison, 'Well, when we had Troy, Bobby and Al, we communicated well.' That came from [the players], and we just did what we had to do."

There have been other times when Reid has failed to communicate with his players. Owens is one disastrous example. Last season, quarterback Donovan McNabb wondered about his future because he said Reid hadn't talked to him about the addition of Kevin Kolb. Now this.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick is many things, but he communicates to his players, whether they want to hear it or not. Same with Bill Parcells.

While Reid did create a players' committee that meets weekly during the season to discuss player issues, he still seems to cross his fingers and hope everything will be OK inside the locker room.

"Good managers and great coaches sit them down," Vincent said. "These are grown men. It's good to talk about it. You're a better football team with all three, but you're not a better football team with all three and one or two aren't happy with the situation.

"It's not about pampering," said Vincent, whose second term as NFL Players Association president ended earlier this year. "Guys want the truth. Speculation? It's tough to come to work under those conditions. You put a lot of people at risk, and I know that's not Jeffrey Lurie's intention or Joe Banner's intention. They're spending big money to build the franchise and win games, not to have guys constantly at odds with the head man.

"This is becoming repetitive."

So is the tension, which doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.