NFL.com Reveals Surprising Choice for UFA Giants Must Keep

A lot of Giants fans are probably going to disagree with whom out of the 18 players set to become UFAs, NFL.com's Gil Brandt suggests they make an effort to retain.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Feb 19, 2022 9:00 AM EST

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New York Giants

NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt, a longtime personnel executive with the Dallas Cowboys who helped them win two Super Bowl championships, made an interesting choice for the New York Giants in his column picking one pending free agent each NFC team must find a way to keep.

Brandt's choice for the Giants? Tight end Evan Engram.

Yes, that Evan Engram, who despite his underwhelming showing in five seasons with the Giants, is a player Brandt believes could thrive in the new offensive system head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka are building.

Notes Brandt in defending his pick of Engram, the 23rd overall player selected in the 2017 draft:

Engram still has yet to match his rookie-year highs in targets (115), catches (64), receiving yards (722), or receiving TDs (six). There isn't much good to take from the Giants' dreadful offensive efforts in 2021, but Engram did lead the team in scoring grabs (three), and he was the only player on the roster to post a passer rating when targeted in the triple digits (132.3) on red-zone plays last season, although the sample size there (four targets) was small. The Giants have plenty of players bound for free agency, including multiple starting offensive linemen, but Brian Daboll figures to find a way to put Engram to good use as he tries to spark the offense under Daniel Jones.

Many Giants fans are likely to disagree—strongly at that—with Brandt’s take because tucked among any good Engram delivered during his five seasons with the team were some detriments that hurt the Giants.

New York Giants tight end Evan Engram (88) takes the field before kickoff of an NFL Week 12 football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Beyond the fact that Engram has missed 16 games over five seasons due to injuries, he’s also recorded 29 career drops, he’s sporting a 34.4 contested catch rate, he’s only forced 24 missed tackles (in 256 receptions), and he’s averaging 5.4 yards after the catch.

Then there has been Engram’s blocking. While always willing to stick his nose in there, Engram’s blocking at the point of the attack left a lot to be desired, especially when he was outweighed by a larger opponent sporting 30+ pounds on him.

Brandt isn’t the only one who thinks that Engram might benefit from the change of scenery initiated by Daboll and Kafka on offense.

Coach Gene Clemons, a writer for Giants Country, recently opined on the LockedOn Giants podcast that given the Giants’ needs on defense and the offensive line and their delicate salary cap situation, a reunion between Engram and the Giants isn’t as farfetched as many believe it to be.

You have to ask yourself what tight end you are going to get that’s better than Evan Engram? There’s not one out there; I’ll save you the suspense. … I think both of the tight ends that are being considered as the top tight ends are gone Day 1 or Day 2, and so I don’t think you’re going to spend a Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a tight end when you have so many needs on the defensive end (of things), and you’re probably going to end up addressing the offensive line. …Unless you’re going to bring in an O.J. Howard, who’s a free agent…that could be an option, but O.J. Howard isn’t as good a receiver as Evan Engram. … I think if you look at the offense that both Daboll and Kafka come from, they both have tight ends with receiving skills, so that’s probably the way they’re going to try to go.

Lastly, there is the matter of finances. According to Spotrac, Engram’s projected contract based on his productivity is a four-year, $27.015 million contract that comes out to an average per-year earning of $6.7 million per season, slightly more than the $6 million he received in 2021 as part of his rookie contract’s option year.

Meanwhile, O.J. Howard has an estimated market value of $2.2 million based on a one-year contract offering. That is likely because Howard is coming off an Achilles injury suffered in Week 4 of last season.

Final Thoughts

There’s no doubt that the Giants need to prioritize offensive line and defense as they begin rebuilding this roster. While tight end is also going to be a need—we can’t see them keeping Kyle Rudolph for the final year of his contract, and it’s not known where Kaden Smith, who saw his season end early due to a lingering knee injury, is the answer.

Engram’s lack of consistency has been maddening to where it might be foolish to invest big money in him considering his poor hands and tendency to short-arm passes, his inability to get open consistently, read defenses, and set up defenders, and his inability to win more of those physical battles his talent and skill set suggest he should be consistently winning with ease.

There is a place for Engram in an NFL offense. Still, if the new Giants offense resembles what the Bills ran—Buffalo ran a league-high 71.1 percent 11-personnel last year, and their two tight ends (Dawson Knox and Tommy Sweeney) were only targeted a combined 93 times (out of 660 pass attempts)--it’s probably not the wisest investment to re-sign Engram for around what he made last season.