The new NFL year is officially upon us and pen is beginning to hit paper for the top free agents across the league. The Denver Broncos jumped into action and have officially signed TE Evan Engram to a two-year contract with ESPN’s Adam Schefter first to report. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was the first to report the deal will be for two seasons and valued at $23 million with $16.5 guaranteed.
At 30 years old, Engram is set to enter his ninth NFL season. The Ole Miss product spent the first five seasons of his career with the New York Giants and the past three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is coming off a down season that ended after just nine games due to a torn labrum in his shoulder. Across the nine games he did play, Engram logged 47 receptions for 365 yards and a touchdown. He had his best season at the NFL level the year before recording 114 receptions for 963 yards and four touchdowns.
Denver has been one of the more aggressive teams out of the gate in free agency. In addition to Engram, the Broncos have added LB Dre Greenlaw, S Talanoa Hufanga, and WR Trent Sherfield.
This is a clear effort to take a further step towards contention after an impressive season last year. Denver drafted Bo Nix in the first round of last year’s draft and the 25-year-old exceeded all expectations in his rookie year. Nix completed 66.3% of his passes for 3,775 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He played a huge role in leading the Broncos to a 10-7 regular season and the first playoff appearance since 2015.
Engram will be another weapon for Nix to utilize and make their offense more dangerous moving forward. There is still plenty of work to do in the free agency period and in the NFL Draft as they fully build out the roster around their newfound franchise centerpiece, but the addition of Engram is a step in the right direction. Tight end production was a weakness on the team last year and Engram will be a notable upgrade.
As things currently stand, the Broncos hold +400 odds of winning the AFC West, trailing the Chiefs and Chargers, and +1600 odds of winning the AFC overall. This is the seventh-best odds in the conference. There is still plenty of work to be done to round out the roster but Denver is beginning to turn a corner in their outlook as a contender. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the offseason plays out but the Broncos are speaking with their wallets and getting things done out of the gates.
