Evan Engram’s particular person success didn’t correlate with staff triumphs throughout his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but with his move to the Denver Broncos comes a chance to contribute to a probably extra aggressive franchise. The veteran tight finish mentioned he already sees a distinction together with his new squad from a cultural perspective, and he threw a refined dig the Jaguars’ means in his evaluation of the Broncos’ willingness to place in offseason work.
Engram hit the free company market in March when the Jaguars launched him after three years with the franchise. Denver scooped him up every week afterward a two-year, $23 million deal. The transfer may pay dividends for each events.
“It is onerous to be the primary one within the constructing,” Engram said at training camp. “I am used to being the primary one. In Jacksonville, I used to be all the time the primary one. It was very easy. Right here, it is form of powerful. A whole lot of guys doing it on the highest degree. It is only a contagious setting. All of us wish to get higher, and all of us have excessive requirements that all of us wish to obtain collectively.”
A few of Engram’s best years thus far got here with the Jaguars. He posted career-high marks in receptions (114) and receiving yards (963) through the 2023 season and logged 4 touchdowns apiece in that marketing campaign and the one prior. His tenure got here to an unceremonious finish, although, when Jacksonville launched him on the heels of a season-ending shoulder damage.
Engram had his alternative of two groups in free company as he visited and acquired gives from each the Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers. Only a few months into his stint in Denver, it sounds as if he made the correct alternative.
“That is most likely my favourite factor about being a Bronco proper now,” Engram mentioned. “Simply the way in which that this staff connects, the way in which they push one another, the way in which they problem one another, the way in which that we bonded, the usual that we now have for ourselves, the camaraderie we now have, the laughs that we now have. It is an unimaginable locker room. A whole lot of nice leaders.”
Denver quarterback Bo Nix has a brand new dependable weapon in Engram, who generally is a high-volume goal when wholesome. Regardless of his litany of accidents all through a profession that dates again to 2017, the previous first-round choose has by no means logged fewer than 44 catches or 365 yards in a season. At his greatest, he is without doubt one of the greatest tight ends within the league. The six touchdowns he amassed in 2017 have been essentially the most in a season by a rookie tight finish, and his 114 grabs and 963 yards two years in the past have been essentially the most ever by a Jacksonville tight finish.