Curtis fits in with low-key receiving corps

Going into April's NFL draft - stop us if you've heard this before - nobody thought the Eagles were going to take a quarterback with their first pick.

At least a few national experts, though, felt the Birds would go for a wide receiver early, something team officials privately assured reporters was extremely unlikely. Wideout is a position where the Eagles really think they have strength and depth, which is counter to the perception of some league observers and maybe even a decent-sized chunk of their own fan base.

Letting Donté Stallworth go to New England in free agency probably had something to do with this disconnect, along with the lingering fallout from the Terrell Owens implosion of 2 years ago, which might have the radioactive half-life of plutonium. (Can you have really good wide receivers if nobody is posturing and preening?)

"We have very good quality, and we also have some depth there, as well," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said yesterday, as the Eagles continued their full-team minicamp. "There's going to be some dogfights there, to make the football team, and for playing time in some of those role-playing situations."

The Eagles don't have a wideout on their current roster who has made the Pro Bowl so far (but then again, none of them was in the league before 2003). They don't have a wideout as addicted to attention and controversy as Owens was. They don't even have a pass-catcher who seems loopy enough to thank his hands for being so great, the way Freddie Mitchell once did.

It might take the current starters some time to create much of a buzz. Reggie Brown, preparing for his third season, seems to be on the brink of stardom, but it's likely to be a quiet, understated sort of stardom, befitting Brown's personality. Kevin Curtis, the ex-Ram the Eagles signed to take Stallworth's place, might be even less demonstrative than Brown.

The rest of the group is long on potential, short on accomplishments. Though the Eagles seem really confident in second-year wideouts Hank Baskett and Jason Avant, Baskett barely got on the field enough as a rookie to show flashes of his possession-receiver potential (22 catches for 464 yards, seven for 177 in the meaningless regular-season finale against Atlanta). Avant managed four of his seven rookie-year catches in that same game; his seeming strength and toughness remain largely untested beyond the Eagles' practice field. Greg Lewis, who foundered as a starter 2 years ago but is much better as a role player, might not have a role to play if the minicamp progress Jeremy Bloom is showing turns out to be for real.

The key to the whole thing might be Curtis, who signed a 6-year, $32 million contract as a free agent in March, intent on moving out of the shadow of Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt in St. Louis. Curtis almost immediately became a fixture at the team practice facility, working diligently to learn Andy Reid's complex offense.

"I'm new; you've got to get adusted to the city, a new offense, new teammates, new quarterbacks - everything's new to you. The sooner you can get in and go through this kind of stuff, the quicker you can adjust and make the transition," Curtis said.

Reid's attack and the scheme former Rams coach Mike Martz authored in St. Louis are both West Coast offenses, but Curtis and Mornhinweg said yesterday that they actually are quite different.

"It's a whole different system. Even the philosophy is a little bit different, on certain aspects," Mornhinweg said. "You've got terminology, route-running, even some of the schematics are a little bit different. He's adjusted very well, he's done a good job up to this point and I would expect him to continue to get better every day, through training camp as well."

Curtis, who turns 29 in July, has played exclusively in the Rams' offense since they drafted him in the third round in 2003.

"It is different - the rules are different, how they run their motions, to some of the things with pressure, blitzes. A lot of different routes, as well," Curtis said. "There's a lot of things I've never done before, as far as some of the routes we run and the way we read things. I don't think it's any more complicated than the offense I've been with, it's just new . . . I'm making some mistakes out there. It's part of the process, I guess.."

Brown, who said he is finally getting comfortable in his third spring in the Eagles' attack, said he feels for Curtis.

"You want to show everybody what you can do, and then you have some brain [cramps], because you've got to pick up this complex offense, but I think he's doing a great job," Brown said. "He's been out there running precise routes and catching the ball great. I think he's going to be all right."

Brown said he was confident Curtis would be OK because, "he's relaxed. He's not going to let pressure get to him. When you play relaxed, you play at your best."

Other wideouts have been similarly impressed.

"One thing everybody knows - he's a field-stretcher,'' Avant said. "His quickness has been surprising to me. I think he's going to have a breakout year."

Along with having the offense come to him more quickly, Curtis wishes he could be getting his timing down with quarterback Donovan McNabb, but McNabb's rehab from ACL surgery hasn't allowed that. Curtis and some other receivers plan to meet up with McNabb in Arizona before training camp to get in some of that work.

The Eagles have released wideout and kick returner Bethel Johnson, a little less than 3 months after signing him as a free agent from the Minnesota Vikings. But the unofficial word is that Johnson, currently unable to pass a physical because of a stress fracture of the fibula, should return to the Birds' roster at some point.

The Eagles have released wideout and kick returner Bethel Johnson, a little less than 3 months after signing him as a free agent from the Minnesota Vikings. But the unofficial word is that Johnson, currently unable to pass a physical because of a stress fracture of the fibula, should return to the Birds' roster at some point.

Johnson, 28, who played against the Eagles for the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX, probably will have to beat 2006 fifth-round draft choice Jeremy Bloom for a roster spot, and might face a challenge from 2006 practice-squadder Bill Sampy. The stress fracture, apparently sustained during offseason training, kept Johnson from ever getting on the field with his new team. John-son's agent, Kennard McGuire, did not return phone calls yesterday from the Daily News. *