“Sadly, we’re gonna lose Evan for the 12 months,” Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson instructed reporters Friday. “He’ll have a labrum to get mounted, so he’ll have surgical procedure, repair the shoulder, and miss the remainder of the 12 months.”
It’s a disappointing finish to a disappointing season for Engram. His 5.7 yards per goal and 40.6 yards per recreation have been the bottom marks of his three-year Jaguars profession. He has 1 landing catch on 64 targets this 12 months — Jake Ferguson is the one NFL participant with fewer scores on as many alternatives. Engram stated earlier than the season that he needed to be utilized extra downfield, but his 5.4 common depth of goal ranks thirtieth out of 41 qualifying tight ends (min. 25 targets).
In Engram’s protection, his comparatively poor 2024 marketing campaign wasn’t his fault. Jacksonville’s offense caught no person abruptly to begin the season, and as soon as Trevor Lawrence went down, single-digit factors scored grew to become the norm.
This was the primary season in Engram’s eight-year profession that he failed to succeed in 400 yards receiving. Nevertheless, he did make NFL historical past by changing into the third tight finish to ever catch 40-plus passes in every of his first eight seasons (becoming a member of Jeremy Shockey and George Kittle).
Engram now joins Lawrence, Christian Kirk, and Gabe Davis on injured reserve.
The subsequent man up is 2023 second-round decide Brenton Unusual, who has 28 profession catches for 291 yards and three touchdowns.
“We’ve been happy with Brenton—enthusiastic about Brenton, actually,” Pederson stated. “He’s performed a pleasant job for us, and this will likely be an important alternative for him to essentially showcase himself just a little bit inside our offense. One other alternative for Luke [Farrell] as properly to get extra of a possibility in these final 4 video games, and Josiah [Deguara] too. This will likely be good for him. Actually count on him to proceed taking part in at a excessive stage.”
Engram stated Monday: “Clearly, I might like to get the soccer and make performs to place my workforce in an important place. However I’ve undoubtedly discovered myself in lots of conditions to assist out a few of these younger guys, pour into them, share a few of my knowledge with them, give them a number of the expedited expertise to assist them come alongside. On the finish of the day, I simply wish to make our workforce higher.”
Engram’s very good management was on show when Lawrence was injured. Get properly quickly, 17.