Bird Watching

The striking blueprint the Eagles carefully crafted after NFC Championship Loss III has created a new level of anticipation for a fan base already uncontrollably crazed about its football team.

Now it's time for the ground breaking.

Rookies report to training camp at Lehigh University Tuesday and start workouts the following day. The veterans report Friday and pads start popping a week from today.

The plan, of course, is to avoid NFC Championship Loss IV and land in Jacksonville, Fla., for Super Bowl XXXIX. The feeling most everywhere is that the Eagles have never been better equipped to make a run at a Super Bowl title.

They've added two superstars - Terrell Owens and Jevon Kearse - to a team that already had enough talent to win three straight NFC East titles and make four straight trips to the playoffs.

This, however, is Philadelphia, home of a 21-year championship drought, and these are the Eagles, a team that hasn't won it all since Concrete Charlie Bednarik played both sides of the ball in 1960. Trepidation is always lurking and there were some notable veteran departures from the roster this off-season.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the 10 most interesting players to watch during the Eagles' 16-day camp at Lehigh.

Owens. An NFL soap opera landed the wide receiver in Philadelphia, and the odds are pretty good that some more dramas involving T.O. will follow. One sports book has already made Owens a 15-2 favorite to be the first player fined under the stricter celebration guidelines the NFL plans to enforce this season.

Forget about the potential controversy and think about the possibilities Owens creates for coach Andy Reid's West Coast offense. With apologies to Mike Quick and Harold Carmichael, T.O. is the most talented and most accomplished player ever to line up at receiver for the Eagles. In theory, that should open things up for everyone else.

Brian Westbrook proved last season that he is a dangerous weapon, although he also needs to prove he is a durable one. With Owens around, he should be even more lethal. Wide receivers Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell and tight ends L.J. Smith and Chad Lewis also stand to benefit from Owens' presence.

Kearse. The Eagles' defensive ends had a combined 7 1/2 sacks last season, which is why "The Freak" became the team's primary target in free agency. Kearse, despite consistently drawing double teams and playing through a high left ankle sprain in the second half of the season, still ended up with 9 1/2 sacks last season.

The only real concern the Eagles should have about Kearse in training camp is keeping him healthy. If Kearse is at 100 percent, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson should be able to devise a system that makes the Eagles' defense one of the best in the NFL.

Donovan McNabb. There's been some speculation that the arrival of Owens and Kearse will take some of the focus and pressure off the Eagles' starting quarterback.

McNabb's take on that speculation can be summed up in one word: Hogwash.

"We all know that I'll be the one either getting the questions about what's going on or what's wrong or what we did right in a game," McNabb said. "If they take pressure off me, that's great, but I don't see that happening. "

He's right. The pressure is always on the quarterback, and with Owens around, the level of scrutiny will rise for the quarterback. The thinking is that he now has the weapons with which to win. The Eagles need him to avoid another early-season slump and play like the quarterback who completed 64 percent of his passes and had a 97.3 quarterback rating in the final 10 regular-season games last year.

Jeremiah Trotter. The Eagles' former middle linebacker is back, but he knows he enters training camp second on the depth chart behind Mark Simoneau. That should make for some interesting contact drills, especially since the No. 2 defense usually goes up against the No. 1 offense at training camp. That means Trotter gets to play his aggressive brand of football against the Eagles' best players.

How he performs could be the most interesting aspect of training camp.

Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown. Like Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, Sheppard and Brown will always be mentioned in the same breath. Perhaps the greatest fear among Eagles fans is that Sheppard and Brown will be unable to fill the giant shoes of Vincent and Taylor, who were paired at cornerback for nearly a decade.

There's reason to be skeptical and reason to be optimistic. As Reid likes to point out, Sheppard started nine games last season. The coach never mentions, however, that Brown was often the closer and definitely the second-year cornerback who received more playing time.

As third-year players, Sheppard and Brown have to prove that they belong in the NFL. If they don't, it could open the door for rookie third-round pick Matt Ware to move into the starting lineup. At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Ware is by far the biggest of the Eagles' cornerbacks, but he lost valuable learning time because NFL rules did not allow him to attend the Eagles' final minicamp.

Corey Simon. The Pro Bowl defensive tackle was a voluntary no-show at the Eagles' June minicamp and is in the final year of his contract. The Eagles say that Simon will report to Lehigh with the other veterans. According to a team source, the contract he wanted last season was outrageous. Playing for a new deal, he must show that he can stop the run as well as he pressures the passer.

Shawn Andrews. The Eagles' first-round pick is going to be given a chance to step in and start at right guard after veteran Jermane Mayberry moved over to the left-guard position vacated by the trade of the disgruntled John Welbourn. If Andrews lives up to his billing, the Eagles' offensive line could be improved. If he doesn't, Artis Hicks will likely have a starting job.

Dhani Jones. He's replacing the popular Carlos Emmons at strongside linebacker in what amounted to a trade of linebackers between the Eagles and New York Giants. Jones is not as big, but a lot faster than Emmons. It will be interesting to monitor who has a better season.

Jerome McDougle. The Eagles' 2003 first-round draft pick needed shoulder surgery at the end of the final minicamp, a potentially ominous sign for a guy who missed the first half of last season with a hip/ankle injury sustained in the preseason.