Last season, Evan Engram was the calm in the storm, an earnest, talented rookie thrust into a position he was not ready to inhabit. As the more experienced and refined targets around him — Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard, Brandon Marshall — went down, Engram was the last man standing, the only gifted weapon for Eli Manning to seek out. In the locker room, Engram became a go-to player for insight as the losses mounted. It all wore on him.
This season, his second in the NFL, has not gone as expected. He is a matchup-nightmare tight end in terms of his pass-catching ability but has not found his footing within an offense that includes Beckham, Shepard and now Saquon Barkley.