Evan Engram Proves His Long-Term Value to Jaguars in Career Game vs. Titans

Evan Engram helped put the Jaguars' passing game on his back in the biggest game of the year, showing he is someone the franchise needs to seriously consider bringing back.

When Evan Engram signed a one-year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars in March, he made one thing clear.

He wanted to prove he was still the guy. 

The guy who was once seen as one of the most dangerous tight ends in football. The guy who was a first-round pick because of tantalizing talent shown at Ole Miss. The guy who could help put a passing offense on his back.

Engram did all of that and much more in Week 14, having the best game of his career as Trevor Lawrence's favorite target in a 36-22 win over the Tennessee Titans that not only saved the Jaguars' season, but also exorcised the demons of Engram's past with the New York Giants. 

"It's kind of euphoric. Once you learn some things mentally that you can apply on the field or in a profession or whatever you do, you kind of learn how to become mentally trained and use it to your advantage," Engram said on Sunday. 

"It's a good tool to have. And so as opportunities came, making plays, getting downfield, making plays with the ball in our hands, (yards after the catch) stuff, that confidence goes up. But also it's important to kind of stay in the moment, stay centered, and focus on your breathing and just be ready for the next play because a good play or bad play, you want to continue to move on. And then the game kept going on and we kept needing plays, they kept dialing my name and I just wanted to go make plays for the team.

On Sunday, Engram was the guy. 

"Evan Engram?" Lights out," Zay Jones said matter-of-factly after the 11-catch, 162-yard, two-touchdown performance from Engram.

It was a career day for Engram, setting new highs in yards and touchdowns while tying his career high for receptions. And he did it on a day where the Jaguars simply had to have it. They needed a skill player to step up and make plays to break an eight-year drought in Nashville, and Engram did just that. 

"He's always part of the gameplan. You just never know who's going to have the hot hand at times and he knew he had it there and played tough and made some outstanding catches, made some outstanding plays, and played well today," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after the game. 

Engram was clearly a focal point of the game plan from the jump, seeing each of Lawrence's first four targets for the day. And after the duo failed to execute the first few, Engram went supernova, catching everything thrown his way, picking up yards after the catch and showing the Jaguars that he is a player they should seriously and deeply consider retaining for 2023.

"Yeah, it’s big. It's a rhythm builder. You get that first catch in, or even the first two opportunities, you kind of just flush them, letting them go and just having the opportunities keep coming," Engram said after the game. 

"You just want to capitalize on them, and once you get that one and then that second one. You get into the flow of the game and you kind of settle in and then the defense kept giving us the ball, so we were able to kind of sustain drives, get some points, and that just kind of gets players in the rhythm and the offense in a rhythm as well.

Through 13 games, Engram is fourth among all tight ends in catches (53), fifth in yards (548), tied for fifth in touchdown catches (four), and has become one of Lawrence's favorite targets. The drops that plagued Engram in New York have only shown up in spurts since training camp ended. 

In short, Engram has proven himself more and more to the Jaguars each week. And on Sunday, this culminated with the game of his life. 

"I mean, the way I prepare, the way I work, and the way we work, anybody could have a day," Engram said. 

"We've seen the talent that we have in that room have days like that. And today was just, God allowed it to be 17’s day and it was a lot of fun.