Kolb, contract in hand, is eager to get to work

Kevin Kolb and his wife, Whitney, showed up at the NovaCare Complex yesterday as the honeymoon continued for the newlywed couple.

Their latest gift came from the Eagles, who gave Kolb a four-year deal worth more than $2.5 million, including a signing bonus. Kolb, a quarterback selected in the second round of the NFL draft out of Houston, will receive base salaries of $285,000 this season, $370,000 in 2008, $460,000 in 2009, and $550,000 in 2010.

His contract, a generous one for the 36th overall selection, should allow Kevin and his bride to purchase whatever their friends and family missed from the wedding registry.

More important from Kolb's standpoint, it means he will be in attendance tomorrow afternoon when the Eagles' rookies and selected veterans report for training camp at Lehigh University. Kolb, the first player selected by the Eagles in the April draft, was the last of the team's eight picks to sign.

"Oh, I'm pumped," Kolb said during a news conference outside the NovaCare Complex. "It was getting down to the wire and I think everyone was getting a little bit antsy. I'm very excited and I know my family is as well. I hope the Eagles are just as excited as we are."

Kolb, who will turn 23 next month, admitted it was tough to grasp exactly how much money he was going to get from his first NFL contract.

"It's been about 12 hours, so I'm not sure it's sunk in completely yet," Kolb said. "And I'm not sure it ever will. It's nice, it's perfect. It is a lot. . . . it makes me feel special.

"It shows me what I've done here so far and they respect me and they want me around for a while. Like I said before, my biggest fear was getting behind. I wanted to be there [tomorrow] just so I could get that catch-up time. We've had a month off and I would like those three days before [the full squad] gets there in order to get back in the groove."

Kolb, who enters training camp behind Donovan McNabb, said his goal for his first NFL training camp was to make sure he consistently progressed as a quarterback.

"I think the thing I lack right now is consistency in my game because there are a lot of unknowns - the offense, the different mechanics that they're teaching me," Kolb said. "I have a long way to go, and I want to consistently get better every day. Hopefully, by the end of training camp, the guys won't know whenever I step into the huddle because they will have just as much confidence in me as they do with everybody else."

As for the money that made Kolb an instant millionaire, he said he had no extravagant plans.

"I am conservative with everything that I do," he said. "So my wife and I will live just like we always have with a few extra things. We'll put it away and hopefully our kids will be able to see it."