Evan Engram has been much maligned throughout his Giants career, especially for a few catches he failed to make over the years.
This year, however, whether it be due to injuries, inconsistency, or something else, Engram leads the Giants in receptions with 44 through 15 games, and his 66 targets and 392 yards receiving are second and third on the team, respectively.
While it’s nice for the team, the numbers aren’t exactly eye-popping (the leading receiver, Kenny Golladay, has 499 yards on 70 targets), and not what the Giants signed up for when they built what was supposed to be a weapon-laden offense.
“Obviously, we definitely had higher expectations. We always will have them, but right now we've just got to keep working and try to get there,” Engram said Monday about the Giants’ offense. “I feel like we've just got to execute better everywhere. Every play, every run, pass, every small detail, everything that goes into a successful football play, we've just got to do better, literally. We just don't have enough good plays, so we've just got to keep working and trying to get there.”
The Giants are officially eliminated from playoff contention, so anything the offense improves on is really a building block for the future – but with his rookie contract expiring at the end of the year, Engram may or may not be a part of that future.
Big Blue has not made the playoffs in any of Engram’s five years in town, or even had a .500 record, but he’s not resigned to playing out the string or taking what could be his last two games in New York for granted.
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“It comes down to your perspective on this game. We have limited number of opportunities to play this game, especially at this level, so it’s how you want to approach it – do you want to take it for granted or you want to make the most of it?” he said. “There's a lot of football plays in these last two games and that means that's a lot of opportunity. It just depends on how you look at the game. Definitely just don't want to take these for granted. These opportunities don't last forever and it's up to you on how you want to approach it.”
And through it all, Engram has no regrets, and no hard feelings about the way he’s been portrayed.
“This is a privilege and a blessing,” he said. “Obviously, this is not a situation that we work for and that we wish for, but I'm here and you've got to face things. I just never shy away from it. I always show up to work and get to work. That's all I try to do, and I don't hide from anything.”
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