What do the Eagles need from the tight end position this year? How do they intend to use the collective talents of L.J. Smith, Brent Celek, Kris Wilson and Matt Schobel? Which of those four, for that matter, won't be on the team should the Eagles, as expected, keep three tight ends on the 53-man roster?

It's an interesting series of questions, for the lack of production from the position last year was a major factor in the offense's lack of consistency, lack of red zone success and, at times, lack of explosiveness. From the end of the season until this point, the tight end position has taken a couple of unforeseen turns, including the retention of Smith and the acquisition of Wilson.

Now, as the veterans gather at the NovaCare Complex for a two-week passing camp, we're going to learn a little bit more about how the Eagles plan to use this group, and what a healthy -- again -- Smith means to the all-around effectiveness of the Eagles offense. His career numbers have certainly been up and down -- the good included 61 catches in 2005 and 50 in 2006 -- and then there have been the puzzling seasons of 2004 when he was so dominating at times and then hardly a target on a talent-laden offense, and then again last year when Smith hobbled to only 22 catches in 10 games.

By the end of last season, the common thought among observers was that Smith was as good as gone.  Was, then, tight end going to be a position to address in the off-season? Was Celek, after an encouraging rookie campaign, ready to ascend to the starting role? Would the draft offer any help?

Well, the Eagles surprised a lot of people when they used the franchise tag on Smith, who handled things like a complete professional and signed the tender and has been a regular part of the off-season conditioning program. His head is right, his body is fit and Smith is in line to have a very nice season.

The role of the tight end, though, remains undefined. It's hard to imagine the Eagles looking Smith's way 80 or 90 times like the Cowboys do with Jason Witten. Brian Westbrook, after all, is the one the Eagles make sure gets touches in the passing game. In Dallas, by comparison, Witten and Terrell Owens are the main pass catchers. Here, at least last year, it was Westbrook and Kevin Curtis.

There are ample weapons in this offense, considering the prowess of Westbrook and Curtis, and the young talent of Reggie Brown and DeSean Jackson and the hope that is Lorenzo Booker, a running back/receiver who has been impressive in learning-the-offense situations in the six weeks he has been an Eagle.

The tight ends? Interesting, to say the least.

At his best, Smith is a matchup problem for defenses with his combination of size and speed. The Eagles have never really looked at him six, seven, 10 times each week. Instead they have worked Smith into situations here and there to get him chances to catch the ball down the field or, many times, to make big plays in the red zone. But 80 catches a year? Smith has that kind of talent, but he has not been used in such a way.

On the surface from this perspective, the combination of Smith and Celek recalls the primo combo the Eagles had years ago with both Smith and Chad Lewis. Before Smith's arrival and in the early days of the Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era, Lewis was a pass-catching machine. The Eagles needed Lewis to make plays. They had Duce Staley and Lewis, and Lewis responded with 69 catches in 2000, 41 in 2001 and then 42 in 2002.  Smith arrived in 2003 and the two tight ends did some damage together (although, to be fair, Jeff Thomason made plays in the early part of this decade, too).

Smith's contribution, then, shouldn't be measured solely by the numbers of catches he makes. After all, he was a tremendously valuable part of the offense in the playoff drive of 2006 because he was just as good at blocking and opening up holes in the running game as he was at making plays in the passing game. So, maybe a better way to assess Smith and his tight end mates is to factor in their stem-to-stern role in the offense.

The Eagles use a long list of personnel packages, and with DeSean Jackson bolstering the receivers and Booker in to make the backs a deeper group, the Eagles figure to trot out a lot of groups on a down-to-down basis. If history serves as a guide, they are going to keep three tight ends, so one of the four -- and I'm not including Michael Gasperson, because he is such a long shot at this point -- is not going to make the 53-man roster.

What the Eagles surely will have is a threesome at tight end that can make a lot of plays. I have to wonder how many plays the Eagles want from the tight ends, and how they use the position in the formation. Is tight end, I wonder, going to be less of a factor because the Eagles want to get the speed of Booker and Jackson on the field?

I don't have the answer, but I know the Eagles are considering their many options. The passing camp opens on Tuesday afternoons and two weeks worth of X's and O's will unfold, if only partially. There is much more of the playbook to consider, and the Eagles have only given this team dribs and drabs to date.

Will Smith catch 70 passes? That seems like a reach, considering he has not reached that number in previous seasons. Are we looking at something like Smith with 45 receptions, Celek with 25 and Wilson/Schobel catching another 10-20? Boy, that totals 80 receptions from the tight end position, and while it is a lofty goal, it seems excessive given the numbers you know Westbrook, Curtis and Brown will have, not to mention the potential contributions from Booker and Jackson.

Hey, it is something to watch. There is always something to watch, right? Tight end is one that bears some scrutiny, for sure. We saw how much a depleted corps hurt the offense last season. Now, the picture is different. It's healthy. It's vibrant. It should have success waiting in the offense. The real question is how much the Eagles want to use the tight end, how much they hope to include Smith and the others in the all-around potency of the offense.