With Eagles, Curtis inherits an elder-statesman role

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - In St. Louis, Kevin Curtis was the guy asking the questions, the understudy, the player watching Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce to see what he could learn.

With the Eagles, Curtis suddenly finds himself as much an answerer as an asker. At 29, he is the Birds' oldest wideout.

"I'm enjoying these guys," Curtis said after his first full-squad workout in pads as an Eagle. "It's a little different situation, coming in here with me and Greg [Lewis, also a fifth-year player] being the most experienced receivers. I was the young guy in St. Louis. We have a lot of young receivers with a lot of promise, and we've got Reggie [Brown], he's coming off a great year and he's got all the potential in the world to be something special. It's good to be around guys like that."

Curtis said dispensing advice isn't all that easy for him.

"I still feel like I have lots to learn myself, so I have a hard time acting like I've got it all figured out," he said.

After signing with the Birds as the free-agent replacement for Donté Stallworth, there were two things Curtis tended to talk about: how eager he was to prove he could be a full-time starter, instead of just a complement to Holt and Bruce, and how important it would be to get some work in with Donovan McNabb so Curtis and the quarterback would be on the same page when the season started. McNabb participated only in the final few days of minicamp in June, but Curtis was able to go out to McNabb's home in Arizona with a group of Eagles receivers early last month. Yesterday, they began to build on that foundation.

"The more time you have to work together before that first game, the better," Curtis said. "He's a character. He's a lot of fun, actually. He gets after it, he wants to work hard. He enjoys what he does. You can tell, just being around him . . . He has one of the strongest arms I've ever seen. The first few balls I caught, I couldn't believe how hard he throws that ball."

McNabb talked yesterday about Curtis and last month's get-together.

"My goal was to get to know him on as well as off the field . . . If you're thinking on the same wavelength, I think it goes a long way, not only for certain situations that we'll be faced with in practice, but it'll prepare us for games. Kevin Curtis, as we know, can stretch the field. I think the thing that not a lot of people know about him is that he runs great routes and he has great hands.

"You want to put the ball in a position where he can catch and make a guy miss and explode upfield. I think he showed that a little bit [in the morning session] by picking up a first down after the catch. We're all confident in his hands."

Stallworth, by the way, opened camp on the Patriots' physically unable to perform list. The reason is unclear.

Highlight of the afternoon session was the pass down the middle that Donovan McNabb stuck in between two defenders to Greg Lewis . . . Rookie running back Tony Hunt seemed to have good hands in minicamp, but he is fighting the ball so far at Lehigh . . . McNabb indicated that he "just kind of threw a number out" when he estimated his right leg is still at 75 percent, which was where he assessed it 6 weeks earlier, as well. "I could be at 80, I could be at 90, who knows?" McNabb said . . . Cornerback Lito Sheppard left the morning session with back spasms, coach Andy Reid said. Sheppard did not participate in the afternoon practice, but fellow back sufferer Michael Gasperson, a wideout, was able to get on the field in the afternoon after missing the morning. Missing the first day entirely were defensive tackle Montae Reagor (knee), linebacker Dedrick Roper (foot) and wideout Bill Sampy (quad bruise). Reid said Sampy's injury seemed the most serious. *

Highlight of the afternoon session was the pass down the middle that stuck in between two defenders to . . . Rookie running back seemed to have good hands in minicamp, but he is fighting the ball so far at Lehigh . . . McNabb indicated that he "just kind of threw a number out" when he estimated his right leg is still at 75 percent, which was where he assessed it 6 weeks earlier, as well. "I could be at 80, I could be at 90, who knows?" McNabb said . . . Cornerback left the morning session with back spasms, coach said. Sheppard did not participate in the afternoon practice, but fellow back sufferer , a wideout, was able to get on the field in the afternoon after missing the morning. Missing the first day entirely were defensive tackle (knee), linebacker (foot) and wideout (quad bruise). Reid said Sampy's injury seemed the most serious. *