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Giants Player Profile | Evan Engram, TE

The talented, but injury-plagued tight end faces a make-or-break season in 2020. Can offensive coordinator Jason Garrett get the most out of Engram's talents?

2019 Season Rewind

One of the many reasons why the Giants felt confident in trading away receiver Odell Beckham Jr was because of the last four games of the 2018 season.

During that period, the Giants offense won just one game out of four, but the offense scored 102 points, finally starting to resemble what head coach Pat Shurmur had envisioned for the offense.

A big reason for that was the play of tight end Evan Engram, the team's first-round pick in the 2017 draft. With Beckham sidelined due to a quad injury for those four games, Engram caught 22 of 31 pass attempts for 320 yards and one touchdown.

By contrast, in his first seven games that injury-shortened season, Engram caught 23 of 33 pass targets for 257 yards and two touchdowns.

But therein lies the problem with Engram. He has yet to make it through a full season, which has been frustrating given the talent he brings to the table.

Last season he played in just eight games, missing one game to a knee injury and seven due to a sprained foot that required surgery.

At last check, Engram wouldn't have been able to participate in the spring practices had they been held, but it is anticipated that he'll be ready to go for the start of training camp, the start date of which remains to be seen.

Therein lies the most significant question mark with Engram, well that and how new offensive coordinator Jason Garrett plans to use the fourth-year pro.

Engram, according to Pro Football Focus, was primarily used as an inline blocker last season. Of his 444 offensive snaps played, 284 were inline, 121 were in the slot, and only 39 saw him split out wide.

While Engram wasn't asked to pass-block much last season, he did partake in 107 run-blocking snaps, snaps in which he was likely going against a bigger defender and snaps that makes one wonder if that's a reason behind his struggles to stay healthy.

Looking Ahead

The Giants showed that they aren't ready to give up on Engram by picking up the option year on the tight end's deal. But there's little debate that Engram's talents haven't been fully utilized to their potential.

Engram poses a matchup nightmare in the slot, yet the previous coaching staff took their chances with smaller receivers. Garrett, who has deployed tight ends in the slot during his time in Dallas, is likely to change this.

But it's fair to wonder about Engram's surgically repaired foot. Part of his strengths were his speed and his explosiveness, both of which made him a nightmare to defend regardless of who attempted to cover him.

Engram has always been a solid route runner who quickly turns around for passes and has demonstrated consistency in finding soft spots underneath and positioning himself to make the catch, even on off-target balls.

But the injuries--that's a concern given the history, though again, perhaps Garrett will cut down on asking Engram, whose run-blocking won't be mistaken any time soon for Howard Cross, to block like a traditional inline tight end, and instead deploy him as more of an H-back.