Baskett is "a" big receiver.

He is not "the" big receiver.

But that doesn't mean Baskett can't be more of a factor in the Eagles' offense than he was last year, when it seemed the Birds thought his sole value was blocking, as a sort of H-back or quasi-tight end. (Starting tight end L.J. Smith was hurt most of the year, and the team wasn't all that thrilled with fullback Thomas Tapeh, who was allowed to leave in free agency.)

So far in this training camp, wideout Baskett seems to be more the short-yardage or red-zone target people thought he would be when the Birds traded for him just after the 2006 draft.

"You're dealing with a smart guy there. That gives you a little flexibility with what you can do with Hank," coach Andy Reid said yesterday. "He's playing very well right now, and he's catching the ball real well. We're seeing him go up and the quarterbacks just put the ball up. He's covered, they put the ball up and he goes and gets the thing. He can about jump out of the house; he's got a great vertical jump, and he's utilizing that better. He looks to me stronger than what he's been in the past, and he's got that big body to go with it. He's playing very well right now."

Baskett is 6-4, and he has slimmed down to 207 from his listed 220, he said yesterday. As Reid noted, he can go up and get a ball, in the end zone or along the sideline; he holds the New Mexico high school high jump record, at 7 feet. But he does not have the wheels or the instincts of a Terrell Owens or a Plaxico Burress.

Ask him if he can be the "big receiver" fans here covet, and Baskett will tell you this: "Definitely, the sizewise big receiver, but there was a lot of talk in the offseason, outside the organization, about that one go-to guy," and Baskett, with 38 catches his first two seasons, knows that isn't going to be him. He doesn't think that's as big a problem as fans and reporters often portray it.

"Any position, you have that one key player - things happen in this league all the time - something happens to that one player, then what?" Baskett asked. "I'd much rather have a team full of guys, where if Kevin [Curtis] needs a blow, or Reggie [Brown] needs a blow . . . they're confident that we can go in and make plays."

On a team that nearly everyone feels lacked weapons, Baskett's numbers went down from his rookie year to his second year, from 22 catches and a 21.1-yard average to 16 and a paltry 8.9. The blocking thing, and the special-teams MVP role (voted by teammates) Baskett took on had something to do with that, but it also seemed the Eagles and Baskett got the wrong idea when he broke loose for some long catches as a rookie - that he was a greyhound, and not a possession receiver.

"You fall into a little rut," he said. "Last year . . . I wasn't going up and attacking the ball like I was the year before. That's one thing I've tried to come back and do. Coach Reid got on me a couple of times in the offseason about not going up and getting the ball. That's what I've been focusing on this camp.

"Like he told me today, there was a catch in the red zone - he's like, 'That's what you do, you use your body' . . . make the defender go through me. I've just got to go back to using my strengths. Every receiver's different; I'm not going to be the quick, shaky guy. I tried to do that somewhat last year, and it set me back a step, trying to change my game instead of using what got me here.

"This year, I've lost the weight, I feel quicker, I feel healthier. I've just been focusing on the few little things I sort of overlooked last year in camp."

Baskett said he did extra offseason work with Brown, and he feels he's stronger, if lighter. Between Baskett and Smith, the Eagles hope they have the ability to dramatically increase their red-zone efficiency, which was a big focus yesterday.

"We weren't very good in the red zone [last season]," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said recently. "We were very good in many other factors of the game, but that red zone was not good. That starts with me. We always change. If something's wrong, we're going to fix it, and we did that throughout the season, and thought we had it clicking there about midseason, and then we reverted back. And so yes, we've done many things there to improve our red-zone production."

Mornhinweg didn't say what those things were, exactly. But he did say this, when asked about Baskett and the fade route, a prime red-zone weapon for most teams: "He's a big, physical man who does quite a few different things for us, and that certainly is one of them."

Birdseed