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There are plenty of teams across the league where I wouldn’t be all that thrilled with an Evan Engram signing. Denver is one of the spots that captures my interest.
Sean Payton publicly said this offseason that he’s searching for a “joker” for the Broncos offense; essentially a weapon who can line up at multiple positions and create mismatches. Most assumed that would come in the NFL Draft via a strong tight end class. It still might, but the two-year deal reportedly worth $23 million, including $16.5 million fully guaranteed at signing, makes me think an early tight end addition is off the table. Also, Engram is certainly a guy who checks the versatility box. Per Fantasy Points Data, Engram ran just 37.9% of his routes as an in-line tight end last season, 40.5% in the slot and 21.1% out wide. He even has 16 career rush attempts.
The Broncos loaded up on defense in the opening waves of free agency. Somehow, a unit that ranked No. 1 in EPA per play allowed last season looks even better on paper. Opposing offenses are going to have a bad time when Denver is on the schedule. With linebacker and safety needs checked off by the Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga additions, it gives the team flexibility to pursue playmakers on an offense that needed more juice both in the backfield and in the passing game beyond Courtland Sutton.
With Engram in the fold, we could see a wideout or running back prioritized over a tight end. This is a good match for both sides.
This is a more drawn-out conversation that deserves more space than a quick-reaction free agency piece, but I’m getting pretty high on this Broncos team for next season. That defense was already good and added a pair of tone-setting butt-kickers in free agency. The offense is well-designed, the line is good and Bo Nix is coming off a strong rookie season. With a few talented skill-position players from the draft, we could really be humming.
Fantasy fallout
Engram isn’t a true vertical threat in the passing game, so he became a bit of a high-catch-count compiler in fantasy football in Jacksonville. He went south of 9.0 yards per reception in each of his final two seasons with the team. At the same time, I can see Payton making much better use of him on his play-action shot concepts in Denver. There’s also so much available opportunity in this passing game. Sutton ran a route on 90.5% of the dropbacks last season; no other player cracked 50%. I’d bet Engram bucks that rotational trend.
As we keep mentioning, Denver is likely to add more pieces at running back and pass-catcher in the NFL Draft. That will shake up the projections here, but for now, I feel comfortable slotting Engram somewhere between TE5 to TE8. Go check out the names listed in that area in FantasyPros consensus ranks. It’s not exactly pretty.
