When Evan Engram hauled in six balls for 129 yards in Week 12, he became the fourth tight end this season to surpass the 120-yard mark in a single game. The other three were Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Mike Gesicki, though the following week, Darren Waller erupted for 200 yards against — who else — the Jets.
The point is that, when he's playing well, Evan Engram is capable of tearing defenses apart with his receiver-like build (6-foot-3, 240 pounds) and speed (4.42-second 40-yard dash time). He's been a good receiver in past seasons, too, though injury issues have marked him as a disappointment overall. He's stayed healthy up to this point in the season, and with all these aspects of his play considered, he was nominated to his first Pro Bowl roster that was announced on Monday.
So that's the good Engram. On the other side of the coin, though, is the bad Engram. The version of Engram that drops passes thrown his way at a higher rate than any other tight end. He leads all players at his position with six drops, ahead of names like Chris Herndon and even Eric Ebron, who have four (via NBC Sports — though I'm sure different lists will feature different numbers).
And some of those drops have been extremely costly.
If you look at his overall stats, too, you'll see that he isn't doing all that well compared to the other tight ends in the league. He's seventh in receiving yards, and though there is only one NFC tight end ranked higher than him (fellow Pro Bowler T.J. Hockenson) there are names like Logan Thomas, Robert Tonyan and Rob Gronkowski who are within 40 yards. Those three names all have at least five touchdowns — Tonyan even has 10. Engram, alternatively, has one. For a receiving specialist who doesn't thrive as a blocker — an area where he has shown improvement, however — these numbers aren't great.
More stats? If you look at tight ends with at least 30 targets, there are two names with a catch percentage of at least 80.0 percent (Tonyan and Cameron Brate), a whole slew of tight ends in the 60s and 70s, and an inglorious bunch below the 60 percent mark. The bottom two are Engram and, way at the bottom, Eagles rival Zach Ertz.
Metrics don't do Engram any favors either, as Engram is second-to-last on Football Outsiders' list of tight ends that have caught at least 25 passes. Ertz and Ebron sit on either side of him to round out the bottom three. Coincidentally, Tyler Eifert is fourth-worst. What a bad year to be a tight end with an "E" surname, eh?
So it's understandable that NFL fans, and even Giants fans who should be loyal to Engram, had a hard time understanding and justifying his nomination to the Pro Bowl. Even if the "Pro Bowl" this season won't be like others, the occurrence still gave Twitter a chance to vent.
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