Sean Payton didn’t see the big play from his tight end coming. It certainly wasn’t designed with Adam Trautman in mind.
Rookie quarterback Bo Nix took the red-zone snap in the second quarter of a Week 8 game against the Carolina Panthers last season, dropped straight back and began scanning the field. He had Courtland Sutton running a post, Marvin Mims bursting into the flat and tight end Nate Adkins running a short to the sideline.
And then there was Trautman, running up the seam, seemingly more decoy than end-zone target.
“If you would’ve given me our roster (and asked me) to dot who I think scores on that play,” Payton said after the game, “(Trautman) would’ve been near the middle to the bottom.”
Happy #NationalTightEndsDay to all who celebrate!
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/QHZvkV6rQX
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) October 27, 2024
Payton was specifically discussing that play — a 19-yard touchdown dart from Nix that Trautman hauled in with one hand — but he could have been talking about the involvement of his tight ends in the passing game at large the past two seasons. No team has had fewer receptions or yards from the tight end spot since the start of the 2023 season.
That raw data explains, in a macro sense, why the Broncos reached an agreement on a two-year, $23 million contract with Evan Engram on Wednesday, a deal confirmed by league sources. The Broncos needed far more receiving production at tight end so they went out and added the most productive player at the position available in free agency.
But this wasn’t simply a marriage of convenience. Payton has been looking for something specific out of the role Engram will now fill as a Joker player, a description he described in detail during the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis last month.
“I use that term for when you have one of those guys who are matchup challenges inside,” Payton said. “It really helps you (on) third down and (in the) red zone. There are ways defensively you can handle the outside receivers and force the ball inside. That is something we will look closely at.”
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Only the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants targeted their tight ends less on third down last season than the Broncos did. Denver had -0.60 expected points added (EPA) per dropback on third-down throws to tight ends, tied for the worst mark in the NFL, according to TruMedia. The Broncos since 2023 have 21 receptions from tight ends on third down in 34 regular-season games, by far the fewest mark in the league. Engram has 37 such receptions — in 26 games.
Engram, despite missing nine games due to injury last season, ranks eighth among all tight ends since 2023 in third-down targets (48) and is fourth in reception percentage on those throws (77.1 percent). Part of Engram’s success stems from his ability to be moved around the formation and schemed out of different alignments. Review his play log of third-down receptions and you’ll see him flare into the flat from a tight slot formation, catch a quick zip pass from the quarterback and run after the catch for a first down. You’ll see him motion in from the far outside, dart toward the middle between a linebacker and a safety and make a catch in a tight window, using his 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame to wall off defenders. You’ll see him line up just off the right side of the tackle, then slip through tight traffic as he works his way to the end zone, as he did during a touchdown play against the Cleveland Browns in 2023.
Jags on the board with a TD to Evan Engram!
📺: #JAXvsCLE on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/pWMED8S30C pic.twitter.com/2qKBSIX9k8— NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2023
You see Engram consistently win his routes on third downs in various matchups. That’s a presence the Broncos simply didn’t have in their offense. It doesn’t come cheap. The $11.5 million in average annual value on Engram’s contract ranks 10th in the league among tight ends, according to Over The Cap. But when you are purchasing an entirely new element for your offense — and a comforting security blanket for the young quarterback — it’s a wise investment in any economy.
Now let’s talk about the other area in which Payton believes a player like Engram can stress defenses: the red zone. Only the Giants and Dallas Cowboys targeted tight ends less inside the 20-yard line last season than the Broncos, who threw only nine such passes to players at the position. It’s another data point that gives credence to Payton’s surprised reaction when Nix hit Trautman for the touchdown against the Panthers.
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Yet, the Broncos were highly efficient when they did incorporate tight ends in that part of the field. Nix threw five touchdown passes among those nine tight end targets and his EPA per dropback on red-zone throws to tight ends ranked fifth in the league. Much of that was a result of crafty play design, such as when the Broncos leaked the seldom-targeted Nate Adkins out of an inline stance, pushed the pocket to the right and allowed Nix to throw back across the field to Adkins for a wide-open touchdown.
Engram will give Payton another chess piece to scheme with in that critical area of the field, but he will also give Nix an athletic target to look for when things don’t go exactly to plan. Engram’s 0.28 EPA per red-zone target ranks 14th in the NFL since 2021 — a better mark than Kansas City’s Travis Kelce (0.25) — and his ability to high-point the ball and snare it in tight windows should be a big benefit for Denver’s offense.
There’s no better example than Engram’s game-tying touchdown catch in the fourth quarter of a game against the Green Bay Packers last season.
LAWRENCE TO ENGRAM TO TIE IT 🫨
📺: #GBvsJAX on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/SkD10lJb7d— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2024
It won’t be a surprise for Payton next season when the ball ends up in the tight end’s hands in those third-down and red-zone situations the Broncos have targeted as major improvement priorities. It was the whole point of Denver’s critical pursuit of Engram, the mismatch-creating Joker that Payton has needed.
“I’ve played Sean’s teams that have had them,” Broncos general manager George Paton said of the Engram-type players Payton coached in New Orleans, “and they’re hell.”
(Photo: Jason Hanna / Getty Images)
