National Football League

2017 NFL Draft scouting report: Evan Engram

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:52 p.m. ET

Fansided, Will Lomas/FanSided via Titan Sized

Just because every TE isn’t complete, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t fits for the Tennessee Titans. One guy who may slip to the 3rd round of the draft is Evan Engram.

Paul Kuharsky recently said on the radio that the Tennessee Titans were (more than likely) going to draft a tight end this year.

While some (including myself) have put out mock drafts recently that target O.J. Howard at some point early, there is a very good chance that the Titans may wait and take advantage of a deep TE draft class.

One name to look at is Evan Engram of Ole Miss. Many people forgot about him after a stellar game against FSU to open the season. However as a niche player there is a lot of things he does really well that teams like the Tennessee Titans are going to see and covet.

Check out my scouting report on him here and decide for yourself if he was someone you would target in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Evan Engram
TE, Ole Miss
6’3, 236 (Senior Bowl)
Games Watched: FSU, UGA, Memphis, Auburn

Pros

-He is a very polished route runner and he sets up everyone who lines up against him in man to fail.

-In one word he is a salesman, and I mean that in the best way. I have seen him sell runs as passes, passes as runs, double moves, fake double moves, etc.

-Just a savvy guy, knows when to push and when to take positive gains.

-Good seam attacker against zone coverage.

-He does a little bit of everything. In fact, maybe what he does the least of is actually play real TE.

-Three solid (not elite) years of production.

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Cons

-Occasionally struggled with drops this year.

-Like I said early, is he a tight end? Plays more slot receiver than he does TE, in fact he really plays the “wing” more than he does traditional inline TE.

-He is going to get killed on jams.

Summary
-Engram is a good pass catcher and he is hard to tackle with the ball in space. The question for me is, what will teams identify him as?

He doesn’t really play inline TE, he almost always plays out wide or behind the LOS as a borderline wing. You can call him a detached TE, but schematically that isn’t that different.

So while he is probably limited early to that jumbo slot role, he should eventually be able to develop into a TE2 that learns how to block backside and get up linebackers fairly quickly. Still, if he is only a pass catching TE early, is he really that different from Hunter Henry?

What is he?
-A flex TE that can move around and beat LB/S with his routes. Great fit in a scheme that won’t ask him to block or one that will make him TE2 with an accurate QB.

Grade: Late 2nd