Giants Need Evan Engram to Be the Best He Can Be

Giants head coach Pat Shurmur’s has a wish for third-year tight end Evan Engram.

“He’s got to be the best Evan he can be and that will be good enough,” Shurmur said.

It sounds simple enough, but when it comes to Engram, the team’s first-round pick in 2016, it’s been a little bit of a challenge thanks to injuries that have prevented him thus far from playing in a 16-game season.

When healthy, however, the Giants have seen the glimpses of the best of what Engram can bring to the table, particularly during last year’s final four regular-season games.

Over that stretch, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound tight end, who missed six games due to injury last year, finished the season strong, recording 22 of his 45 receptions, 320 of his 577 receiving yards and one of his three touchdowns.

With that glimpse, the Giants have been quietly developing plans for Engram to be a larger part of the offense in this, the first year of the post-Odell Beckham Jr era.

Shurmur held Engram out of most of the preseason games, the primary goal obviously being to keep the tight end healthy for the start of the regular season, but equally as important, keeping any plans they have for using Engram’s talents in the offense under wraps.

Engram is well aware of his looming increased responsibilities in the Giants’ offense this year but also pointed out that he won’t be the only one expected to step up in contributing to the production void left behind by Beckham Jr.

“Definitely I have bigger responsibilities and (am being looked at as) more of a leader as well,” he said Monday. “A lot of guys going get a lot of opportunities to make plays and we just got to step up and get it done.”

“We expect that he is going to have an outstanding year for us,” Shurmur said, refusing to divulge any specific plans regarding how Engram’s talent might be deployed this year.

“I think we’ve seen, when he has been healthy and out there, what he can do. The challenge for any player is to stay healthy and stay out there.

"I think that’s first and foremost for all players and then when he is out there, we have to use him in a way that can really accentuate and really take advantage of his skills.”

As much as Engram hated not playing in the preseason, he said a benefit of the inactivity was that he feels as fresh as ever entering a football season.

“I mean it's a credit to the cool things that they have around here that keep our bodies healthy, and the resources that we have,” he said.

“Coach has been doing a great job at taking care of us, so I'm definitely feeling fresh for ready to go; I feel like a Jack-in-the-box who is ready to spring out.”

Engram’s skill set has receiver Sterling Shepard, who is expected to take on the bulk of the receiving talents with Beckham gone and Golden Tate serving a four-game suspension, excited to team up with the tight end in the passing game.

“If you look at the back five games that he played last season, he played lights out, and that’s what he’s going to bring to the table,” Shepard said.

“He’s a matchup nightmare, and I’ve said that since day one since I’ve seen him. The man looks like a wide receiver and he runs like a wide receiver, with a tight end’s body.”

Although there remain questions outside the Giants team headquarters regarding just how potent the Giants passing offense can be this year without Beckham, Engram said that’s all noise that the players have blocked out as they continue their preparation for the new season.

“We know what we're capable of, we know our standards and our expectations, and we know the work we got to do,” he said. “And that's all that matters.”

What also matters, according to Shurmur is that Engram does not move away from his strengths.

“I think he just has to go out and be him,” Shurmur said. “He has to go out and he has to block when we ask him to block. We’ll try to utilize him the best way we can, based on his skill set.”

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