After the most disappointing season of his career, Evan Engram says he hopes to remain with the NY Giants, vows to improve
There isn’t a player on the NY Giants’ roster who might benefit more from a change of scenery than Evan Engram, but the enigmatic tight end has no interest in punching his ticket out of town.
“Yeah, I want to be here,” Engram said Monday, following the most disappointing season of his career.
Prior to the NFL trade deadline, a general manager told GMenHQ that Engram likely still has “significant” trade value. Even following this season’s disappointing showing, that likely remains the case. One has to wonder if the Giants won’t explore moving on from the 26-year-old this offseason.
Despite being named to his first Pro Bowl, Engram dropped eight passes, caught just one touchdown, and at times looked miscast in a system that failed to exploit his bevvy of athleticism and playmaking ability in the open field.
"“There was some adversity,” Engram admitted. “There were a lot of times where we didn’t perform as well as an offense as we wanted to. There were a lot of times that I didn’t perform as well as I wanted to. There’s never any excuses.“There were a lot of plays I wish I could have back, and do better things to help the offense, and allow myself to be more of an impact on the offense.”"
Prior to this season, the Giants picked up Engram’s fifth-year option, a tacit commitment to the 2017 first-round pick. Engram did little to reward even the minimal investment the Giants made.
Was Engram’s disappointing season — 63 catches for 654 yards and one touchdown — the product of a poor scheme, a poor mindset from drops snowballing onto one another, or is this simply the player that he is at age 26?
Engram vows to improve, and makes no excuses.
“I have a lot of things I need to improve on in the offseason, and a lot of things I will improve on,” Engram said. “All it does is come down to making more plays. My next opportunity is next year, and I have to go make them.”
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.