Evan Engram is one of the most polarizing players on the New York Giants not named Daniel Jones. He’s a name that gets mentioned in trade rumors every year at this point, but the Giants organization has shown a fair amount of loyalty to him and has kept up faith over the last couple of years that Engram’s value on their team is higher than whatever they can get on the market for him.
Engram does indeed have potential, and did in fact make the Pro Bowl during a 2020 season when the Giants didn’t have too many individual overachievers. But his play has often left fans wanting for more. He might have caught enough passes to make the Pro Bowl, but he also had crucial drops that kept him from making major gains in fan sentiment.
If there’s one thing Evan Engram has going for him, though, it’s that he’s relatively honest. He’s not the kind of player to gloss over his mistakes. And even if some are tired of hearing from him now as he continues to suffer from the same problems across multiple seasons, it’s better than hearing excuses.
What did Engram have to say?
Evan Engram on entering a contract year: “My motivation is in the moment right now. All that stuff is in the future.”
His self-assessment was there was some good and bad last year. He wants to throw last year away. When asked what he wants to improve, began with ball security.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) June 4, 2021
Engram has said that his Pro Bowl season contained both good and bad but that he wants to throw the year away and focus on the future. He also pointed out ball security in specific as an area of need, which makes sense considering his reputation for drops.
At this point it’s rather clear what the main problems in Engram’s game are. The only thing left up in the air is whether or not those problems will be resolved anytime soon or not. While Engram has talked a lot about improvement only to suffer from the same problems since coming into the league, his honesty shows that he’s aware of what he needs to work on.
The Giants have fortunately signed another pass catching tight end this season in Kyle Rudolph. As the more veteran player, it looks like Rudolph might have a teaching role for the younger tight ends on the team rather than just an on the field role.
We know that Rudolph has a reputation for not dropping the ball. Will that rub off on Engram during the 2021 season now that they’re teammates? We’ll have to wait and see, but it’s hard to imagine the Giants weren’t thinking about Engram when they made the signing.