The Eagles coach meant that the team's first full-squad workout in shorts was just a prelude to what would come bright and early this morning when the pads go on and the intensity level goes up.

Cornerback Lito Sheppard didn't have to wait for this morning's thunderous hits, because he was greeted by a storm of reporters as he exited the fieldhouse that is serving as the team's training-camp locker room.

After avoiding the media while checking in Thursday afternoon, Sheppard agreed to field questions yesterday. They came fast and furiously from a horde that wanted to know about the cornerback's state of discontent after a turbulent off-season filled with trade rumors, a contract squabble, and a recent agent change.

"My job is to come here and perform and play, and I let my agent and the Eagles take care of everything else," Sheppard said. "Hopefully, we'll come up with something pretty soon."

A new deal for Sheppard in the near future is about as likely as running back Brian Westbrook's showing up this morning, standing on the 50-yard line, and saying he was just kidding about all the contract stuff. Sheppard has made no secret that he is unhappy about a five-year extension he signed in 2004, but the deal runs through 2011, and cornerback Asante Samuel was the Eagles' prized free-agent signing of the off-season.

Sheppard, who received an $8.7 million signing bonus, is scheduled to make a base salary of $2 million this season and a total of $12.95 million the next four years. He fired Peter Schaffer and hired agent Drew Rosenhaus last week. Rosenhaus met with the Eagles and said things are moving in a positive direction, but Sheppard didn't pretend as if everything is perfect. He said his situation has caused him stress.

"No doubt, especially when I feel like I should be getting treated a certain way and it's not happening," he said. "Everybody knows what [the problem] is and how it stands, so that's it. I don't have to go into details."

Sheppard said he wasn't putting a time frame on getting a new deal, but he hired Rosenhaus because "I just didn't want this thing to get overlooked."

In addition to being dissatisfied with his contract, Sheppard might not have a starting job. When the first-team defense took the field for the first time yesterday, Samuel was at left cornerback - he will remain there full time - and Sheldon Brown was at right cornerback. Sheppard later rotated in with the first-team defense, but he knows the rotation scenario could cause turbulence.

When asked whether he could be happy as anything other than a starter, Sheppard said: "Of course not. I feel like I'm a Pro Bowl-caliber player, so why wouldn't I be starting?"

"Unresolved" is the way Sheppard described the cornerback situation.

"I guess that's what you get when you have an unresolved situation - you get rotated," he said. "It's a mind game. I just do what I'm told at this point, and we'll see how it goes."

Sheppard, who's only 27, does seem to understand that he needs to prove his durability after missing 14 games the last three seasons with an assortment of injuries.

"I want to go out and show everybody that I'm healthy and I am who I say I am," he said. "I want to show I can still play the game at a high level, so I'm going to let that speak for itself."

Sheppard insisted that he has no animosity toward his teammates or the organization. He spent a portion of practice yesterday chatting with Samuel, the Eagles player most happy with his contract. But he also said that the team's contract issues with himself and Brian Westbrook could become disruptive.

"When you have two arguments as legitimate as these two arguments, obviously it's a business and you've got to make decisions, but this is the NFL and teams don't always appreciate what they have," Sheppard said.

Bob Brookover blogs from training camp all day at http://go.philly.com/birdseye

See video from camp at http://go.philly.com/eagles