Evan Engram Signs 3-Year Contract with Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Evan Engram got a deal in right before the deadline. A day before the deadline for players that were franchise tagged to sign an extension, the Jaguars and Evan Engram agreed to a long-term deal through the 2025 NFL season, per his agent Mike McCartney.

 

This extension for Engram keeps him in Jacksonville for the next three seasons and pays him as a top-ten tight end. He is now the sixth-highest tight-end for APY (Average Per Year) and the 10th overall in total value for tight-end contracts. Engram signing this extension pays him like a top ten tight-end and shows the Jacksonville Jaguars faith in Engram that he will perform like a top ten tight-end in the NFL.

Evan Engram Signs for 3 Years, $41.25 Million, with $24 Million Guaranteed

Evan Engram is Here to Stay

By signing this 3-year 2-year contract extension through 2025, the Jaguars keep Evan Engram on the roster along with the rest of the skill players that helped Trevor Lawrence break out in 2022. Engram returns with Christian Kirk, Travis Etienne Jr., and Zay Jones. Calvin Ridley joining those offensive weapons for the Jaguars will provide a robust receiving core that could lead to the Jaguars taking the division and the NFL by storm in 2023.

Engram is a dynamic playmaker that helped shape the Jaguars offense in 2022. Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson is known for utilizing his tight ends, and Engram showed in 2022 that he could be a star tight end in the NFL. And now that Engram has signed a multi-year extension, he is now paid like a star tight-end as well.

What’s Next for Evan Engram?

With his best season coming with the Jaguars, it made sense to extend him to a long-term deal. In Doug Pederson’s offense, with Trevor Lawrence throwing to him, Evan Engram put up the best numbers he’s had in his NFL career. He had 73 receptions in 2022, 9 more than his previous high of 64 in a season. He also eclipsed his previous career-high yardage totals, tallying 766 receiving yards in 2022, 44 more yards than his rookie season. Overall, he had the best season of his career and proved that he could be an elite tight-end in a system that utilizes 12 personnel (two tight-end sets) at the seventh-highest rate in the league.

The improvement in both receptions and receiving yards are both important, and despite a lower touchdown volume, there’s still one area that highlights Engram’s growth. In 2022, Evan Engram was much more efficient than he’s ever been. He was able to accomplish such by icing a problem that had plagued the beginning of his career with the New York Giants: drops. Throughout his Giants career, Evan Engram averaged a catch rate of 61.1% and, in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, dropped 17 combined passes. Both his catch rate and dropped passes saw significant improvement in 2022 with the Jaguars.

In 2022, Evan Engram caught 74.5% of the targets he saw and dropped only five passes. Compared to his time in New York, Engram saw an increased catch rate of more than 10%. Such a dramatic improvement in catch rate, an essential area for a receiving threat like Engram, is an indication of his improvement with the Jaguars in 2022. It’s especially encouraging when one of the main reasons why the Giants let him go, the drop concerns, saw a drastic improvement in just one year in the Jaguars system.

Coming off such a season where he saw career highs and yards, receptions, and catch rate, Engram is set up once again for another career-defining year. Between Engram’s improvement, and the Jaguars’ offense continuing to evolve with the ascendance of Trevor Lawrence and the addition of Calvin Ridley, there’s a lot to be excited about heading into the 2023 NFL season for the Jaguars.