It was nice breezy day at Lehigh and some cloud cover provided relief from what would have been the oppressive heat. A crowd of over 6,000 showed up on a Sunday to watch the second to last day of live hitting at camp. Later on, considerably less people stuck around for the special teams session...

Brian Westbrook returned from the viral illness that held him out of the previous days practice. He didn't take a ton of reps, but the previous reports from camp have said that Westbrook hasn't been taking a lot of reps period. When he caught his first pass the crowd a cheered and one guy yelled "Andy, give him his money!" drawing laughs from the stands and the sidelines.

After the jump catch my full report and observations

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34 year old Jon Runyan was downright giddy in his assesment of Andy Reid's newly formed "30+ plus club" which is intended to give some older veterans extra rest.

"Can I get my years retroactive?" he said, jokingly. "I wouldn't have to practice at all; I'd take the whole year off."

"Just going through it myself, there's a limit to what your batteries have left in them," Runyan said. "You liken it to the whole rechargeable battery. You keep trying to recharge it too many times, it doesn't come back the same."

Kevin Curtis was also happy, having just celebrated his 30th birthday

"I just turned 30" on July 17, Curtis said. "I never thought I'd be so happy to be 30."

Curtis was asked whether Reid knew he had just turned 30.

"If he doesn't, I'll remind him," the Eagles' No. 1 receiver said.

Brian Westbrook showed up on time for camp, but left no doubt as to his unhappiness with his contract

"I'm here," Westbrook said. "Whether I'm reluctant, I'm still here. I'm coming here to be here with my teammates, to compete for a job, and do everything I can to help this team win."

Shawn Andrews' reason for not showing up to camp remains a mystery, but his agent is adamant it has nothing to do with his contract. It also seems that the Eagles do know what that reason is.

"It's for personal reasons," agent Rich Moran said. "He's been in contact with the Eagles, and we're working on getting him there. This has absolutely nothing to do with his contract. He talked to Andy Reid, and we're working through it."

Andrews also missed the final week of the Eagles' spring camp at the NovaCare Complex for what the Eagles described as personal reasons.

"I can say this is a little bit related to that," Moran said. "It's not 100 percent related, but there's a little tie-in."

Sheldon Brown spoke about the crowded corner situation.

From my standpoint, the key is coming out of training camp with three guys," Brown said of the logjam at cornerback. "There's always injuries. You need depth. That's how I look at it from my personal standpoint."

"You have to put your ego aside," he said. "It depends on the player and how long the player will accept that. Anything's possible as long as we continue to communicate."

I couldn't agree with Sheldon more. The last thing we want is a failure to communicate.

Joe Banner weighed in on Lito's absence... Didn't say much of anything new, but I suppose it's noteworthy nonetheless.

"He will be with us this year," Banner said of Sheppard, who has been seeking a trade because he is dissatisfied with a contract extension he signed 4 years ago, which runs through 2011. The week before the April 26 NFL draft, a Sheppard trade seemed a sure thing, but it didn't happen then - because the Eagles were asking too much, because teams were reluctant to give Sheppard a new, state-of-the-art contract after he missed 14 games the last three seasons, or because of some combination of those reasons - and, apparently, it won't now. Banner said nothing was happening on the Sheppard trade front.

Desean Jackson and Asante Samuel tweaked their hamstrings.

Rookie wide receiver DeSean Jackson got the first hammy and the other casualty was $60 million cornerback Asante Samuel.

"I don’t think either one of them is bad," said Andy Reid, adding that neither player has a history of hamstring trouble.

Probably the most unsettling news is that it appears McNabb has a sore shoulder according to Kevin Curtis.

"He’s looking good," wide receiver Kevin Curtis said after practice. "But I think he has a little bit of a sore shoulder."

Or does he? Says Andy...

While Reid dismissed the soreness with an, "I don’t think it’s going to be a problem," McNabb’s teammates watched him struggle the first two days of organized team activities at the NovaCare Complex.

McNabb was a little better Wednesday than Tuesday, when he was very un-McNabb-like. More often than not his throws were wild. That said, there were far too many interceptions thrown by all of the Eagles’ quarterbacks Wednesday, including McNabb.

I'm really not concerned about the hamstrings, that's very common in these early practices, but I do think McNabb's shoulder is something worth keeping an eye on. There were reports of this in the first rookie camp back in may, and Andy Reid has admitted to having McNabb on a "pitch count" where he's shut down after a certain amount of throws.

Bob Grotz makes the argument that Kevin Curtis has the credentials of a #1 receiver

Curtis had a career-best 77 receptions worth 1,110 yards and six touchdowns last season.

All of the numbers ranked among the NFC leaders, and in some cases, the NFL leaders.

What makes them remarkable is it was Curtis’ first year in the West Coast offense, a scheme so ridiculously complicated it takes players years to learn. It also was a year in which McNabb, rebounding from major knee surgery, didn’t get his feet under him until the homestretch.

Curtis ranked eighth in the NFC in receiving yards, ahead of the celebrated Plaxico Burress (1,025 yards) of the New York Giants, Steve Smith (1,002) of the Carolina Panthers, Anquan Boldin (853) of the Arizona Cardinals and — why not? — Williams (836) of the Detroit Lions.

Though Curtis was 13th in the conference in touchdown receptions, behind Burress (12), Boldin (9) and Smith (7), the Eagles struggled mightily in the red zone.

Later in that article Curtis goes on to say he wasn't put off or insulted by the Eagles' pursuit of a big name WR this offseason and would welcome one if something did happen before the season...

I like Kevin Curtis and clearly he looks like one of the better free signings of the Andy Reid era, especially as far as expectations go, but I'd have a hard time labeling him as a marquee receiver. Let's see what happens in year two.

One of the guys that actually garnered a good bit of surprise praise at the mincamp was Darren Howard. Howard was pretty much left for dead after last year where he was relegated to no more than situational DT. We all remember when he was brought in for pretty good money to be solution at DE opposite Jevon Kearse... As it turned out , neither were a solution... but Howard could end up playing a role here anyway.

Only this wasn't the Howard of the past two seasons, the one signed to a six-year, $30.5 million deal and expected to wreak havoc opposite Kearse in the Eagles pass rush.

This wasn't the frustrated Howard, who never came close to fulfilling that contract, lost his starting job and eventually faded into the shadows of the NovaCare Complex.

This Howard had trimmed down by 10 pounds, expressed optimism about 2008 and had accepted his role on the team.

Hey, he still has one right now.

"My whole career, I've always been one of the guys, if not the guy, on the defensive line," Howard said after the minicamp, recalling double-digit sack seasons with New Orleans.

"I talked to [defensive line coach] Pete Jenkins before the camp and I talked about my role, and I understand that and I accept that. ... For the last two years, I didn't really understand what my role was going to be because it wasn't always clear. Now that I know where it is, I know where I fit with this team and I know where I can contribute."

The way I see it, there's a spot for a 4th DT open here and Howard has just as good a shot at that as anyone. With Trent Cole, 2nd year man Victor Abiamiri,  Juqua Parker, free agent Chris Clemons, and 3rd round pick Brian Smith all but assured of roster spots... the DE position is pretty crowded.