NFL personnel: Jaguars' Evan Engram among top 10 TEs

Anonymous NFL executives, coaches and scouts consider Jacksonville's Evan Engram as the ninth-best tight end in the league entering the 2024 season, according to polling conducted by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

Engram fell one spot from his No. 8 standing last offseason but remained in the top 10 for a second year in a row, a feat Fowler acknowledged some voters had hoped for during the tight end's injury-impacted, five-season stint with the New York Giants between 2017-21.

"Many of the evaluators who kept voting for Engram when he struggled in New York can revel now that Engram has been highly productive in Jacksonville," Fowler wrote.

Engram was voted as highly as the NFL's fifth-best tight end this offseason while at least one person ranked him outside of the top 10.

Engram led all tight ends in 2023 with 143 targets and 114 receptions in 2023, the latter stat ranking second in single-season Jaguars' history, generating four touchdowns and a career-high 963 yards.

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Per ESPN and Next Gen Stats, Engram's 558 routes run led NFL tight ends last season "by far," as did his 62.5% success rate on tight-window throws.

"He's a matchup problem -- you can't put a linebacker on him," an AFC executive told Fowler. "You put him on shallow crossers and get the ball out quickly in space and on screens and he can do damage."

Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. and edge rusher Joshua Hines-Allen were named among the top 10 players at their respective positions by ESPN’s polling of NFL personnel released earlier this week. Jacksonville's Andre Cisco was named an honorable mention safety in the same set of surveys.