The five-time Pro Bowl quarterback has rehabbed vigorously since a knee injury ended his season in Week 11 last year. He's running and throwing and is on course for a complete return when players report to camp on July 27.

"He's been throwing once a week, and he looks good in that area," coach Andy Reid said Monday after the team completed its first minicamp. "Progressively, he'll be given more days where he can get out and throw, and he'll continue his rehab. The closer we get to camp, he'll be back to full speed. So, we're expecting him, when camp starts, to be able to participate."

McNabb is spending a lot of time at the team's practice facility, but also will rehab at his home in Arizona part of the summer. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last Nov. 19. It was the third time in five years that McNabb's regular season ended in mid-November.

"You want to give the surgery time to heal and not stretch anything out there that you just tightened up," Reid said. "So, that's the part that takes the time."

When the Eagles hold their first practice of training camp, it'll be exactly eight months to the day McNabb had reconstructive knee surgery. The season opener at Green Bay on Sept. 9 will be 9 1/2 months post-surgery.

Quarterback Carson Palmer started Cincinnati's first game last year just eight months after he tore his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments and dislocated his kneecap in a playoff loss. Palmer played every game for the Bengals, throwing for 4,035 yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Daunte Culpepper's return from a major knee injury wasn't quite as successful. Culpepper tore his anterior cruciate, medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments in a game with Minnesota on Oct. 30, 2005. He was traded to Miami and started the season opener but clearly wasn't the same player and played just four games.

McNabb was having one of the best statistical seasons of his eight-year career before he got injured. He finished with 2,647 yards passing, 18 TDs, six interceptions and a passer rating of 95.5.