Factoid

March 21, 2025

Evan Engram makes a Mile High move

Veteran in Sean Payton's latest tight end project

It looks like Sean Payton is getting back in the tight end business. His offenses have ranked last in tight end production over the last two years, with 19 fewer receptions than any other team. But Denver signed Evan Engram, and he’ll be catching some balls.

Not that Engram will be another Jimmy Graham. Certainly not around the goal line. Engram doesn’t have the same ability to post up, pulling down contested balls for touchdowns. At 6-foot-3, Engram is short for the position. But he was a chain-mover in Jacksonville, catching underneath balls. I can see him catching about 65 passes in that current Denver offense.

Per reports, the contract signed by Engram is $23 million for two years. With the salary cap zooming up, I think that’s a decent contract – not great, but he’s a guy they wanted.

Engram has more pass-catching pop to the position than what Payton has had recently. Via PPR scoring, seven of Payton’s last eight offenses have ranked below-average in production at the position.

SEAN PAYTON TIGHT ENDS (team totals)
Year	Team	No	Yards	Avg	TD	PPR	Rk
2006	New Orleans	45	411	9.1	1	5.8	27
2007	New Orleans	76	710	9.3	4	10.7	14
2008	New Orleans	110	1,193	10.8	3	15.5	3
2009	New Orleans	89	954	10.7	5	13.4	12
2010	New Orleans	103	995	9.7	10	16.4	6
2011	New Orleans	108	1,350	12.5	12	19.7	2
2013	New Orleans	111	1,485	13.4	19	23.3	1
2014	New Orleans	119	1,201	10.1	17	21.3	3
2015	New Orleans	101	1,021	10.1	11	16.8	6
2016	New Orleans	70	812	11.6	4	11.0	20
2017	New Orleans	45	476	10.6	4	7.3	31
2018	New Orleans	66	739	11.2	4	10.2	20
2019	New Orleans	70	956	13.7	12	14.9	7
2020	New Orleans	60	721	12.0	9	11.6	19
2021	New Orleans	55	602	10.9	7	9.2	27
2023	Denver	39	362	9.3	4	5.8	31
2024	Denver	51	483	9.3	5	7.6	29

A key moment in Payton’s coaching history (certainly at this position) came when he traded Jimmy Graham to Seattle. Since that time, Payton has coached nine teams. In those nine seasons, I see two tight ends who ranked 7th in PPR production in seasons (Benjamin Watson and Jared Cook). I see two others who made the top 20 (Cook and Coby Fleener). But most of those teams didn’t have a top-20 tight end, and four of them didn’t even have a top-35 tight end.

Payton has taken stabs at notable tight ends before. Both Fleener and Cook were significant additions. Engram looks kind of similar to those guys in magnitude – not a superstar, but perhaps fair to say they’re expecting him to be above-average.

PAYTON'S TIGHT ENDS (last 10 years)
Year	Player	G	No	Yds	TD	PPR	Rk
2015	Benjamin Watson, N.O.	16	74	825	6	192.5	7
2019	Jared Cook, N.O.	14	43	705	9	167.5	7
2016	Coby Fleener, N.O.	16	50	631	3	137.3	15
2020	Jared Cook, N.O.	15	37	504	7	129.4	17
2018	Benjamin Watson, N.O.	16	35	400	2	87.0	21
2019	Josh Hill, N.O.	16	25	226	3	65.6	39
2021	Adam Trautman, N.O.	13	27	263	2	65.3	37
2017	Coby Fleener, N.O.	11	22	295	2	63.5	34
2023	Adam Trautman, Den.	17	22	204	3	60.4	39
2021	Juwan Johnson, N.O.	14	13	159	4	52.9	46
2024	Adam Trautman, Den.	17	13	188	2	43.8	49
2024	Nate Adkins, Den.	17	14	115	3	43.5	50
2018	Josh Hill, N.O.	16	16	185	1	40.5	52
2015	Josh Hill, N.O.	16	16	120	2	40.0	47
2020	Adam Trautman, N.O.	15	15	171	1	38.1	57
2016	Josh Hill, N.O.	9	15	149	1	35.9	50
2024	Lucas Krull, Den.	13	19	152	0	34.2	59
2017	Josh Hill, N.O.	16	16	125	1	33.7	59
2018	Dan Arnold, N.O.	10	12	150	1	33.0	62
2021	Nick Vannett, N.O.	7	9	133	1	28.3	65
2023	Lucas Krull, Den.	7	8	95	1	23.5	72
2020	Josh Hill, N.O.	14	8	46	1	18.6	76
2017	M. Hoomanawanui, N.O.	14	6	52	1	17.2	77
2021	Garrett Griffin, N.O.	13	4	39	0	7.9	92
2023	Nate Adkins, Den.	10	4	22	0	6.2	96
2023	Greg Dulcich, Den.	2	3	25	0	5.5	97
2023	Chris Manhertz, Den.	16	2	16	0	3.6	102
2021	Ethan Wolf, N.O.	2	2	8	0	2.8	109
2017	Garrett Griffin, N.O.	3	1	4	0	1.4	108
2020	Garrett Griffin, N.O.	4	0	0	0	.0	--
2019	Jason Vander Laan, N.O.	2	0	0	0	.0	--

I expect Engram will be a top-15 tight end on my board. Maybe top 10, but I’m not committing to that yet.

And for those who are curious, I’ll list the tight ends from Payton’s other eight seasons with the Saints below, with Jimmy Graham dominating.

PAYTON'S TIGHT ENDS (2006-2014)
Year	Player	G	No	Yds	TD	PPR	Rk
2013	Jimmy Graham	16	86	1,215	16	303.5	1
2011	Jimmy Graham	16	99	1,310	11	296.0	2
2012	Jimmy Graham	15	85	982	9	237.2	1
2014	Jimmy Graham	16	85	889	10	233.9	2
2009	Jeremy Shockey	13	48	569	3	122.9	17
2008	Billy Miller	15	45	579	1	108.9	16
2010	Jeremy Shockey	13	41	408	3	99.8	25
2008	Jeremy Shockey	12	50	483	0	98.3	21
2007	Eric Johnson	14	48	378	2	97.8	20
2010	Jimmy Graham	15	31	356	5	96.9	27
2009	David Thomas	15	35	356	1	76.6	26
2007	Billy Miller	16	27	328	2	71.8	28
2010	David Thomas	13	30	219	2	63.9	36
2014	Josh Hill	16	14	176	5	61.6	36
2013	Benjamin Watson	15	19	226	2	53.6	47
2014	Benjamin Watson	16	20	136	2	45.6	47
2012	David Thomas	15	11	86	4	43.6	48
2008	Mark Campbell	9	12	121	2	36.1	44
2006	Mark Campbell	14	18	164	0	34.4	45
2006	Billy Miller	10	14	129	0	28.9	53
2006	Ernie Conwell	7	8	57	1	19.7	62
2013	Josh Hill	14	6	44	1	15.6	68
2009	Darnell Dinkins	11	5	22	1	13.2	75
2011	John Gilmore	14	3	20	1	11.0	74
2006	John Owens	5	4	44	0	8.4	77
2011	David Thomas	5	5	16	0	6.6	84
2006	Nate Lawrie	7	1	17	0	2.7	88
2010	Tory Humphrey	6	1	12	0	2.2	95
2009	Tory Humphrey	1	1	7	0	1.7	97
2011	Michael Higgins	2	1	4	0	1.4	105
2008	Buck Ortega	11	1	3	0	1.3	99
2012	Michael Higgins	2	1	-3	0	.7	107

—Ian Allan

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