Evan

Engram

Engram again failed to replicate the success he had with the Jaguars from 2022 to 2023, when he amassed 1,729 receiving yards on 187 catches while also scoring eight times. The 31-year-old tight end, who has made a name for himself as a short-yardage merchant, averaged a career-low 4.2 ADOT this season, but still managed 5.9 yards after the catch. Engram signed a two-year contract with the Broncos this offseason and carries a dead cap hit just north of $10.3 million if the team were to release him. Despite obviously being on the back nine of his career, Engram remains a solid option in short-yardage situations and should be locked in for at least one more season with the Broncos. That said, he’ll be hard to trust for fantasy purposes after finishing as a top-12 PPR tight end just twice in 2025.

You’d be forgiven if you didn’t notice that Engram played in this game. The Bills are generally pretty strong against tight ends, but the Broncos didn’t seem too interested in getting Engram involved in this one. There’s a chance that changes next week with backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham under center.

This was a fairly standard showing for the veteran tight end. Engram made himself available to a scrambling Bo Nix on the Broncos’ third drive, securing the backhand-flipped pass and turning upfield for seven yards. Unfortunately, it was third down, and the Broncos needed 15. Engram made a nice play on a post route in the third quarter, though, finding a soft spot in the Chargers’ zone before hauling in a 37-yard gain. Engram is on bye next week, with the Broncos having secured the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed.

Engram remained stuck in a committee, splitting reps with Adam Trautman on Christmas. Trautman caught two balls for 24 yards. Engram has nine catches for 77 yards in the month of December. He is barely on the TE2 menu for Week 18 versus the Chargers.

Engram didn’t do much against his former team. He ran a pass route on 27 of the Broncos’ 51 drop backs and outside of a 33-yard reception in the first quarter, he was largely invisible in a game that saw Bo Nix throw 47 passes. Engram, who has more than four receptions in just three games this season, will be a deep league option in Week 17 against the Chiefs.

Engram has had exactly one meaningful fantasy performance since Week 5, and it wasn’t this week. The veteran tight end continues to underwhelm in the box score and has now caught two or fewer passes in four of his last six games. Fantasy managers would be wise to avoid him in Week 16 despite the revenge game matchup against the Jaguars.

Engram caught his first pass of the day, a six-yard completion, on a slant route during the Broncos’ third drive, at which point the broadcast began pouring out their large amount of pre-game notes on the sporadically-involved pass catcher. He managed just one more reception thereafter. Engram is a TE2 play against the Packers in Week 15.

Engram was the weapon of choice against a Dan Quinn defense that played almost exclusively from zone due to their defense’s inability to generate pressure in the backfield, routinely acting as the outlet behind the blitz on his way to team-high marks in targets, receptions, and yardage. As is consistently the case with Engram, the only blemish on his box score from a fantasy perspective was his failure to get into the end zone, with the team much more focused on their top wide receiver and backfield where it matters most. Engram has proven a difficult asset to trust considering his lack of red zone involvement but reminded us of his upside against zone-heavy opponents. He could return another usable stat line when the Broncos face the Cover-3-heavy Raiders in Week 14.

Engram only played 25 snaps to Adam Trautman’s 41. At this point it has to be said that Engram simply is only going to find TE1 usage if the Broncos are actually forced into a passing script. No team has done that since the Giants in Week 7, and even then he only returned 5/42 on eight targets. The real jokers were the offseason blurbs we wrote about the joker along the way.

This makes back-to-back duds for Engram, but at least he was able to haul in a pair of passes; that’s two more than he had against the Texans in Week 9. Because of the position scarcity Engram remains on the TE1 cusp, but fantasy managers who are counting on production from him have every right to be concerned.