JULY 17: Further details on the Engram pact are in, courtesy of Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. The 28-year-old’s two-year base earnings will fall just short of what he would have made by playing on consecutive franchise tags this season and next, thanks to the fully-guaranteed $24MM. Incentives could push his two-year compensation slightly past that point, however, making the deal a market value one from both a team and player perspective.
As for 2025, Engram will see $1.5MM of his $14.75MM base salary vest just ahead of the league year that offseason, giving him further insurance if he remains with the Jaguars through that point. Doing so should not be in doubt given his performance last season and the resultant commitment Jacksonville has given him.
JULY 16: Franchise-tagged tight end Evan Engram has agreed to a three-year deal with the Jaguars. His agent, Mike McCartney, was the first to report the news (via Twitter), which has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.
The contract is worth $41.25MM and includes $24MM in guarantees, according to Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link). Given that the franchise tag would have paid Engram roughly $11.35MM in 2023, Engram essentially landed a two-year “extension” of about $30MM. His average annual value of $13.75MM across all three years of the pact is the fifth-highest figure among the league’s tight ends, though the $14.95MM AAV for the 2024-25 “extension” seasons is the third-highest mark, behind only Darren Waller and George Kittle. The $24MM of guaranteed money reported by Rapoport and Pelissero is fully-guaranteed, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and it qualifies as the fifth-highest amount of full guarantees ever given to a TE.
After an up-and-down five-year tenure with the Giants to begin his career, Engram inked a one-year, $9MM contract with the Jaguars in March 2022, which turned out to be a savvy investment for a club that has historically had difficulty getting high-end production from the tight end position. In his first year in Duval, Engram set Jacksonville’s single-season tight end records with 73 catches and 766 receiving yards, and he was instrumental in the growth that quarterback Trevor Lawrence displayed in his second pro season. Engram caught 74.5% of his regular season targets, which was a personal best, and he added 12 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown in the Jags’ two playoff contests.
With Engram having signed a multiyear pact, the Jaguars have a strong core of skill-position talent under club control through at least 2025, a group that also includes Lawrence, running backs Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby, and wide receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones. Plus, wideout Calvin Ridley will return to the field this season after serving a one-year gambling suspension, so there is every reason to think that the Doug Pederson-led offense can remain productive for the foreseeable future.
Tagged players have until 3pm CT on Monday to ink multiyear deals, and of the four tag recipients who were still in contract talks with their respective clubs, Engram was seen as the likeliest to come to terms on a long-term accord. On Friday, Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network suggested that there was a roughly 50-50 chance that Engram and the Jags would strike a deal, while the prognosis is not nearly as good for the Giants-Saquon Barkley and Raiders-Josh Jacobs negotiations.
Updates on Tony Pollard‘s discussions with the Cowboys have been scarce, but unlike his RB peers, Pollard has signed his franchise tender and may be content to play out the 2023 season on the tag. While tight ends might be undervalued, the fact that Engram has secured a new deal while the three tagged RBs have not reinforces the notion that running back is presently the league’s most devalued position.
Damn, nice deal for Engram.
Yeah they put the pressure on when they signed the coach’s son.
Holy overpay. Better hope his hands stick around.
Is Dawson Knox overpaid? What about Darren Waller?
The Engram deal is right in line with the rest of the league. The CAP is going up next year, so if you look at what he makes as a percentage of the CAP he is actually slightly underpaid imo.
At this point? Yeah, Waller probably is overpaid, and I’d say Knox by a tad as well. There are like 4-5 really good TE in the league. He’s nowhere near the Kelce-Kittle-Goedert-Andrews tier.
Kelce should be making $20 million a year, I think the fact that he refuses to ask for more is keeping the rest of the TE’s down. If Kelce made $20 million right now no one would bat an eye at Engrams $13.75 deal.
good luck with that
2023-TE Average Annual Salary
Darren Waller NYG -$17,000,000
George Kittle SF -$15,000,000
Travis Kelce KC -$14,312,500
Dallas Goedert PHI -$14,250,000
Mark Andrews BAL -$14,000,000
Evan Engram JAX -$13,750,000
David Njoku CLE -$13,687,500
Dawson Knox BUF -$13,000,000
Hunter Henry NE -$12,500,000
Jonnu Smith ATL -$12,500,000
Good for Engram and good for the Jags.
Solid deal for engram. And jags built more TE depth with the pen state rookie Strange too
Don’t hate the deal for either side
I dunno…Thats a lot of money for a dude who looks like he has a post for a leg
Good for him, congrats. Kielce could make more sure, but his post Super Bowl speeches are getting him plenty of TV gigs, commercials and money, that’s the payoff for taking less like some of the Chiefs players do and keep winning rings