The Jaguars signed tight end Evan Engram this offseason as part of a free agency splurge that also saw wide receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones added to the roster, along with guard Brandon Scherff (among others). Engram, who has enjoyed a productive first season in Duval, is open to a return on a long-term pact, as Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com writes.
Engram, 28, was a first-round pick of the Giants back in 2017. New York exercised his fifth-year option to keep him around for 2021, but after the club brought in a new GM (Joe Schoen) and head coach (Brian Daboll) this year, it was unclear whether Engram would be in Big Blue’s plans.
As it turned out, he was not, though it appears he drew considerable interest from other clubs. Multiple teams were reportedly preparing proposals with the idea of utilizing Engram as a slot receiver rather than as a tight end, and he may have had both one-year and multi-year pacts to choose from.
Per DiRocco, Engram only wanted a one-year contract so that he could reestablish his value after a difficult platform year with the Giants, and he felt he a had a good chance to do that in the TE-friendly offense of Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson. Buoyed by a monster Week 14 performance in which he posted 11 catches for 162 yards and three scores, Engram now has the fifth-most receiving yards among tight ends in 2022. His current 71.6% catch rate would represent a career-high, and quarterback Trevor Lawrence — who was effusive in his praise of Engram — has a 110.6 rating when throwing to him. The last time Engram’s QBs had a rating anywhere near that high was in 2018, which happened to be Eli Manning’s last full season with the Giants.
Pederson, who has indeed utilized Engram in the slot for a high percentage of his snaps, also believes the Ole Miss product has acquitted himself well as a run blocker (though the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus are less bullish in that regard, assigning Engram a mediocre 54.9 run-blocking grade). Both the head coach and the quarterback, it seems, would be happy to have Engram back in 2023 and beyond.
Of course, the financials will need to work for both sides. Spotrac presently believes Engram could land a two-year, $15MM contract on the open market, but after earning $9MM this year and with another salary cap spike on the horizon, it would not be surprising to see him shoot for a higher AAV, especially since he has shown he can thrive in the slot. The Jags, who have not had many productive pass-catching tight ends in their history, may be willing to overpay a bit to retain Engram.
“I would like to be back,” Engram said. “I’ve grown a lot in this year, on and off the field, and give credit to God for that, for putting the right people in my life, putting me in the right situations, the right place. It’s been a blast.”