I think I found a player who’s going to be on a bunch of my teams. Evan Engram. I think he’s going to dramatically outperform where he’s selected in drafts this year.
Engram has been pretty awful the last two years, of course. That should help to keep his price down. But I think he’s nonetheless still a capable pass-catching tight end. And I think he’s in a much more appealing situation now in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars have Trevor Lawrence at quarterback, and I’m not getting cold feet on him just yet. I think Lawrence will be fine.
More notably, Jacksonville has hired Doug Pederson to come in and run things. When Pederson was in charge in Philadelphia, they sure used their tight ends a lot.
I’m not saying Engram is quite Zach Ertz. Ertz probably has a better feel for route running, timing and getting open. Ertz might have better hands.
But Engram is definitely a pass-catching tight end, and I think they’re going to use him. I heard Pederson talking about how much they think of Engram, and Engram has signed a one-year deal worth $9 million with the intention of proving himself, then cashing in next spring, with teams realizing he’s one of the top half-dozen players at his position.
Pederson was in Philadelphia for five years. In all five of those seasons, his teams completed at least 100 passes to tight ends. That’s the kind of workload he might see.
I haven’t looked in detail at over half of the teams, but my hunch is that Engram will have an asterisk next to his name on my board. I expect I’ll be a lot more interested in selecting Engram at where he’ll go, for example, rather than using an earlier choice on Darren Waller or Kyle Pitts.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Engram is on at least 80 percent of my teams.
| COMPLETING 100 PASSES TO TIGHT ENDS (2016-2020) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2019 | Philadelphia | 155 | 1,610 | 10.4 | 12 |
| 2018 | Philadelphia | 155 | 1,571 | 10.1 | 12 |
| 2016 | Philadelphia | 129 | 1,298 | 10.1 | 5 |
| 2020 | Las Vegas | 128 | 1,419 | 11.1 | 13 |
| 2019 | Baltimore | 125 | 1,522 | 12.2 | 14 |
| 2019 | Oakland | 124 | 1,427 | 11.5 | 9 |
| 2020 | Kansas City | 118 | 1,515 | 12.8 | 11 |
| 2016 | Houston | 115 | 1,094 | 9.5 | 7 |
| 2018 | Kansas City | 115 | 1,500 | 13.0 | 13 |
| 2016 | Washington | 114 | 1,306 | 11.5 | 8 |
| 2016 | Baltimore | 110 | 929 | 8.4 | 5 |
| 2019 | LA Rams | 110 | 1,168 | 10.6 | 5 |
| 2017 | Philadelphia | 110 | 1,202 | 10.9 | 14 |
| 2016 | Indianapolis | 109 | 1,287 | 11.8 | 12 |
| 2018 | Indianapolis | 108 | 1,216 | 11.3 | 21 |
| 2017 | Kansas City | 108 | 1,358 | 12.6 | 9 |
| 2019 | Kansas City | 108 | 1,346 | 12.5 | 5 |
| 2016 | Kansas City | 107 | 1,262 | 11.8 | 5 |
| 2020 | Philadelphia | 107 | 1,207 | 11.3 | 7 |
| 2019 | San Francisco | 102 | 1,154 | 11.3 | 7 |
—Ian Allan