"I look forward to it every day," the defensive coordinator said. "I'll tell you what: It's like having two Big Browns in the Kentucky Derby. [When] I walk out there, I see Lito [Sheppard], I see Asante [Samuel], I see Sheldon [Brown]. It's good. Those are good players.''

No one questions the level of their talent. Sheppard has been to two Pro Bowls. Samuel has been to one and has notched 16 interceptions over the last two seasons. Brown is a solid 4-year starter who hasn't missed a game in six NFL seasons. Throw in underrated Joselio Hanson and you may have the best cornerback foursome in the league.

The multimillion dollar question is, how do you keep them all happy, particularly Sheppard, whose starting job on the left side was handed to Samuel and who either a) wants to have his contract fire-bombed; or b) be traded?

Johnson can't do anything about Sheppard's contract situation. But he indicated yesterday at the team's postdraft minicamp that he may have a way to keep all three cornerbacks happy with respect to playing time.

Johnson said he may use all three at times in his base defensive package against two-wide receiver sets.

"There are going to be times where all three of them are on the field, there's no question about that,'' he said. "It might be 60 percent of the time, it might be 70 percent of the time. We're going to get our best football players on the field. It might not just be against three wideouts.''

If he inserts all three in his base defense, one of the safeties, probably Quintin Mikell, would come out. Brown would essentially be a quasi-safety in that setup, which wouldn't be a problem for him. He's a physical player who has spent a lot of time playing inside for Johnson.

When Rod Hood was the Eagles' nickel back, Brown would slide inside to the slot when Hood came on the field. Hood and Sheppard would play outside.

"A nickel cornerback has to be a physical-type cover guy,'' Johnson said. "In the past, we've used Sheldon sometimes as a safety. We feel comfortable with that. It's not going to be every down, but it's going to be part of the package.''

Brown, who is one of the league's better run-support corners, said he has no problem playing inside in the nickel or in any other scheme.

"It worked out very well with me, Lito and Rod,'' he said. "Bottom line is, teams put three wides on the field at least 65 percent of the time anyway. Especially when you play against a West Coast team. Will [James] played a lot. Joselio played a lot. We always keep three guys on the field most of the time.

"I'll be honest with you. I love it when we have two great [corners]. Because it means I get to stay inside and play nickel. I get to rush the quarterback. I get to do a lot of different things in the slot. I hate it out there [on the outside]. It's boring. I like it inside.''

It still remains to be seen whether Brown, Samuel and Sheppard still will be together in September. Or July, for that matter. The Eagles tried to trade Sheppard before the draft, but ended up keeping him when none of the offers they received were to their liking.

Sheppard met with coach Andy Reid last week, and Reid convinced him to attend the minicamp. What happens next, though, is uncertain.

It's doubtful the Eagles have agreed to do anything with his contract, which still has 4 years to run. A more likely scenerio is that they've told him if he plays the good soldier for now, they'll either a) continue to explore trade possibilities; or b) trade him after the season for whatever they can get.

"I feel for all players," Johnson said. "All players want to start. They are competitive. Lito is a good person. I'm glad he's here. I think he's handling this whole thing well. I know it's tough on him at times, but he doesn't show it in practice. That's the main thing."

Johnson's creative juices are flowing right now. Not only can he do some different things with his cornerbacks, but he also has a bunch of talented moving parts in his front seven that are going to allow him to mix up his fronts and pressure the quarterback.

"You have to be [creative] a little bit," he said. "Last year, we were able to take advantage of [linebacker] Chris Gocong's pass-rush ability and his drop ability. This year, we drafted Bryan Smith and added Chris Clemons, who are both fast linebacker-type ends.

"That's what you kind of look for. Speed. The biggest thing I think we have is we're a faster team. We're trying to get speed on the field. You want to be physical and you want to make sure you have speed. Those are the things that go into your creative packages."

The Eagles have played a 4-3 defensive scheme under Johnson. That won't change, but because of the versatile players they have in their front seven, he said they may mix it up more this year and show some 3-4 fronts.

"It'll come down to our linebackers and our depth at linebacker," he said. "How much will we do it? We'll do it some. We've done it a little bit before. It's always kind of a mixture for us. We'll kind of wait until we see in training camp how it works out. But I like to do that." *