When the 2022 season ended, Evan Engram made it clear he wanted to stick with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The tight end called his time with the team the “best year of his life” and sounded confident that he wasn’t going anywhere.
But after receiving the franchise tag in March, Engram’s negotiations with the Jaguars dragged on for months. Finally, nearly six months after Jacksonville’s season ended, he received a three-year deal from the team in July.
On Thursday, Engram told reporters that all that haggling didn’t create any bad blood between him and the Jaguars.
“It was a rollercoaster, honestly,” Engram told reporters. “Felt good, then it was like, ‘eh’, then towards the end it looked really good. I never doubted that they wanted me here, it was just the details and the things that had to get ironed out.
“My agent, Mike McCartney, and Vayner Sports they put all the work in to get it done. Obviously, the team brass here put a lot of work into it too. It was a little up and down but never a doubt I wanted to be here and I knew they wanted me too.”
Engram was the New York Giants’ first-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft. After five seasons with the team, the tight end signed a one-year deal with the Jaguars in free agency last year.
In his first season in Jacksonville, Engram recorded 73 receptions for 766 yards — both personal bests and franchise records for a tight end — along with four touchdowns. He added another 12 receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown in the playoffs.
