Payton Unveils How New Broncos TE Evan Engram Will Elevate Bo Nix in 2025

The Denver Broncos clearly have some big plans for new tight end Evan Engram. We learned from Broncos head coach Sean Payton on Monday at the annual league meetings in Florida that Engram will be a key component to second-year quarterback Bo Nix's growth.

“We’ve talked about it for two years now, the interior triangle of your passing game [is] the tight end, the running back and the third receiver. When you’re seeing a lot of these coverage shell looks, those positions have to thrive," Payton said. "...Engram is closer to Bo than the receivers sometime. The matchups inside—it’s hard to play that position if you’re not able to attack the interior triangle of some of the looks we’re getting defensively. This helps Bo.”

While Engram declared himself the Broncos' 'joker' shortly after being signed, Payton confirmed that the label that best suits him.

“I would put him in that category or that family. He is someone who has those skill sets," Payton said of Engram. "You can talk about it, but historically speaking [and] having had players like him, I’m excited.’

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Engram is coming off a disappointing final season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he dealt with an injury. In nine starts, he caught 47 passes for 365 yards and one touchdown. Expect those numbers to climb precipitously in Denver, health willing, to look closer to his 114-catch, 963-yard campaign the year prior.

The Broncos offense, despite finishing as a top-10 scoring unit, was deficient in a few areas. While, technically speaking, Denver's run game was average (ranked No. 16), it was woefully inconsistent, putting the team in too many third-and-long situations, and allowing the better defenses to pin their ears back and get after Nix.

Despite this, Nix was excellent at avoiding the pass rush, as the Broncos finished with the third-fewest sacks in the NFL. What can really help in those situations, sans a genuine rushing threat, is an inside receiving threat that Nix can turn to. Denver didn't have that last year.

But Engram gives the Broncos such a presence and with gusto. It also helps take some of the pressure off Courtland Sutton — and that'll be compounded if Marvin Mims Jr. continues to show growth from his spot on the field.

Defenses won't be able to double team Sutton as frequently, even though Nix did a good job of spreading the ball around to receivers like Mims, Devaughn Vele, Troy Franklin, and tight end Adam Trautman. If Denver can combine this new threatening aerial posture with a dynamic rushing threat, this offense will be very difficult to game plan against indeed.

The Broncos targeted Engram with purpose in free agency, and while they had to go through the rigmarole of his visit to the Los Angeles Chargers and compete with other interested suitors, he ultimately chose to take his talents to Denver. That's likely in large part due to the vision Payton painted for Engram and his role in the Broncos' new-look offense.

“It took a little bit, in other words, the process relative to his visit and other visits. The vision was pretty clear," Payton said.

Payton even got specific on what that "vision" for Engram looks like.

"Obviously, he’s someone that we feel like can run and give us a passing threat on third down and [in the] red zone. I think he has good body control, and I think he is really good when he gets the ball into his hands," Payton said. "His run after the catch numbers, statistical-wise, have been good. I would say with him, it was a lengthier process, kind of like the old days of free agency where a player would fly in then fly maybe to another team and usually wouldn’t make it to the third team. It worked out well.”

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