Giants tight end Evan Engram’s rookie season was successful by most statistical measures.
But when he looks back at the number of passes he didn’t catch, he finds all the motivation he needs.
Via Dan Duggan of The Athletic, Engram remains haunted by his Thanksgiving game against Washington, which included a pair of drops on third downs and another instance of not coming up with a contested catch. He came back with better games down the stretch, but kept his focus on not letting the ball hit the ground this offseason.
“That was just a mindset thing. I wanted to have zero drops all spring,” Engram said. “I knew what I was doing wrong. I knew how to fix it. I knew how to improve on it. So it was just a learning experience. I have the utmost confidence in myself. It’s definitely something that pisses me off a little bit, but I feel like that’s a good thing. So I never lost my confidence. It just kind of humbled me a little bit and allowed me to get back to the basics and be more consistent. . . .
“You get in the groove and then you start wanting to make moves after the catch and start getting a little bit too confident and a little bit too comfortable. Stuff like that kind of needs to happen for us as players to be able to take a step back like, ‘OK, let me get back to where it all started.’ ”
Engram caught 64 passes for 722 yards and six touchdowns last year, but his 11 drops were the most by any player at his position. If he can iron that part out, he has a chance to be one of the top tight ends in the league, in an offense that should rebound.