On Thursday, the Jacksonville Jaguars cut Evan Engram. The move was part of a number of moves the the Jaguars made this week to increase cap space. By releasing Engram, the team saves $6.04 million this offseason.
Engram's time in Jacksonville featured a number of ups and downs. In 2023, he had the best season of his career, catching 114 passes for 963 yards and four touchdowns.
However, an injury-plagued 2024 campaign saw Engram catch 47 passes and finish with a career-low 365 receiving yards. With the up-and-coming Brenton Strange on the roster, Jacksonville obviously viewed the cap space as more important than whatever Engram would bring to the offense.
But don't let this move by Jacksonville lead you to believe Engram is done in the NFL. If healthy, he can still be a very productive NFL tight end. He just has to find the right landing spot.
Here are five teams that should pursue Engram in free agency if the price is right.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts have a solid group of receivers, but the tight end position was a huge flaw in 2024. The top tight end on the team in terms of number of receptions was Kylen Granson, who caught a grand total of 14 passes. Mo Alie-Cox had 12 receptions.
Some of that was obviously by design. Two wide receivers — Josh Downs and Michael Pittman Jr. — had over 100 targets and the Colts also had Alec Pierce heavily involved.
Still, you want some tight end production, right? Indianapolis has been mocked Tyler Warren in a number of mock drafts this offseason, but instead of waiting around to see if they can get the hyped rookie, the team could add Engram now. Indianapolis could still draft Warren after that, but with or without Warren, signing Engram would greatly improve the team's tight end position.
Denver Broncos
Unless the Broncos trade up, there's virtually no way Tyler Warren is on the board when they pick at No. 20 in the 2025 NFL Draft. The team could go with Michigan tight end Colston Loveland there, but he's unlikely to make the same immediate impact that Warren will.
If the Broncos want to upgrade from Adam Trautman at tight end and give quarterback Bo Nix another weapon, the team should explore signing Engram now that he's on the market.
Denver has a second-year quarterback on a rookie deal. Kansas City is in a cap crunch and looks likely to regress a bit. If the Broncos want to win the AFC West for the first time since 2015, Engram can help the team get closer.
Washington Commanders
Zach Ertz looked rejuvenated last season for the Commanders, but he's also a 34-year-old tight end who just had more touchdowns than he'd had in any season since 2018. He's probably not someone you should count on long-term.
Washington also has the young Ben Sinnott, but his rookie season saw him catch five passes. That's probably not cutting it either for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Adding Engram would give quarterback Jayden Daniels another weapon. Like I mentioned with Bo Nix, surrounding a good, young quarterback with weapons is smart decision making, and this Washington team really lacks playmaking receivers outside of Terry McLaurin.
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers enter this offseason in a weird spot. The team was objectively bad last season as it finished 5-12, but late in the year there were some bright spots, especially with former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young.
Early in the season, it looked like the Panthers might be done with Young. He was benched for Andy Dalton, but then Dalton was in a car accident and the Panthers had to go back to Young. A funny thing happened then: Young actually looked pretty good.
Maybe he won't live up to his pre-draft hype, but he's done enough that the Panthers need to try to win with him. How do they do that? The same way as the last two teams I talked about — by giving him players who can catch passes.
Ja'Tavion Sanders had flashes last year, but a healthy Engram would be a clear upgrade and would give Young a safety valve in the short passing game. He could help take this offense to the next level.
New England Patriots
Unlike the other four teams in this list, the Patriots have a pretty good tight end on the roster in Hunter Henry.
But like the other teams, New England has a young quarterback, cap space and a need for weapons.
In fact, New England has the most cap space in the NFL this offseason and also arguably the worst collection of skill position players in the league. The three players with over 500 receiving yards on this team last year were Henry, Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte.
Much of the talk about how New England builds around Drake Maye has focused on the need to add receivers, but having a second quality tight end is a solution too. In fact, with Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator, focusing heavily on passing to the tight end is likely in the game plan. He was the OC of the 2012 Patriots, a team that had both Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, who finished third and fourth, respectively, on the team in targets.
Now, a Henry-Engram duo is nowhere close to the talent of that Gronk-Hernandez pairing, but it would still make the position a major strength for an offense that's in dire need of any talent it can get.