The New York Giants made a splash hiring on their coaching staff this offseason, hiring former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett as their offensive coordinator. Garrett spent ten years as the head coach of the Cowboys. The Cowboys had a top offense in the league nearly every season with Jason Garrett running the show.
One of the key components to Jason Garrett’s offense is the emphasis on the tight end position. Garrett was fortunate enough to have Jason Witten as his tight end in Dallas for all those years and the two collaborated on some of the best seasons by a tight end in NFL history. In 2012, Jason Witten received a career-high 147 targets in Garrett’s offense. 2012 was the last season that Garrett called plays for Dallas.
Calling plays for the Giants in 2020, could Jason Garrett feature Evan Engram in such a prominent role?
Witten, as the long-time tight end of the Cowboys, received 80 or more targets every year he played under Garrett, including multiple 120+ target seasons.
Between the ages of 25 and 31, Jason Witten was targeted in the Cowboys offense an average of 127 times a year–and that was despite their having a legitimate No. 1 receiver and a top rushing attack. – Gene Clemons of Giants County
Jason Witten had four 1,000 yard seasons in his career with the Cowboys. In each of those seasons, he received a total of targets greater than 120. Evan Engram will inevitably see his role expand with Garrett in town, and could see over 120 targets. But is he ready for an expanded role?
The biggest question for Evan Engram every year: will he be healthy? Engram has seen his total of missed games increase each season. Last season, Engram missed a career-high eight games. Evan had foot surgery this offseason and is looking healthy at the start of training camp:
In 2019, Evan Engram was tied for the second-most targets per game by tight ends in the NFL with 8.5. Engram only played in 8 games though, and a healthy season with a high target volume could lead to a breakout performance. In his first five games last season, Evan was averaging 9.6 targets per game, 74.6 yards per game, and totaled 2 touchdown receptions.
If Engram played all 16 games last season and kept his pace of 8.5 targets per game, he would have received over 130 targets. He also averaged 58.4 yards per game in 2019. If he kept that average for 16 games, Engram would have been well over 900 yards and dangerously close to cracking 1,000.
In his 2017 rookie season, Evan Engram was the Giants’ primary receiving option and received a whopping 115 targets. Evan tore it up that season, catching 64 of those targets, totaling 722 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Hopefully, the Giants can replicate that success in 2020 as they feature Evan Engram in a more prominent role. It all starts with keeping Evan Engram healthy. But in this new offensive scheme, he will be the focal point of the passing attack. Engram has proven to be a versatile playmaker before. Now, it is time for him to expand on that and elevate his game to a new level.
This post was published on 2020-08-04 20:11
