By almost every account, the 2025 season was a disappointment for Denver Broncos free agent pickup Evan Engram. And that wasn't all Engram's fault, either.
Despite coming to Denver with multiple Pro Bowl appearances to his name, as well as a ridiculously productive year in 2023 when he caught 114 passes (just shy of the all-time record for TEs at the time), the relatively straightforward idea that Engram could be a high-volume target in the passing game wound up being one of the biggest question marks over the course of the season.
All of the talk when Engram signed with the Broncos was about how he was going to fill this "Joker" role in Sean Payton's offense, and be a dynamic threat at the tight end position for one of the highest-volume passing attacks in the NFL.
To say that wasn't the way things went last season would be an understatement. But the offseason brings about new opportunities and renwed optimism, which is exactly what Engram is doing after two weeks of on-field work for Broncos OTAs.
Evan Engram reviving optimism he can be a dynamic weapon for Denver Broncos offense at OTAs
Engram's comments after the season in January really summed everything up perfectly:
"I felt like I wanted to always contribute more. Every week, I want to contribute to the team. But, yeah. A lot of that stuff is out of my control, and I just kinda had to stop trying to figure out what that was and just focus on what I was asked to do. I definitely felt God led me here for a reason … maybe it wasn't exactly, things didn't occur the way I saw them."
- Evan Engram (via NFL.com)
Engram finished the 2025 season playing a career-low 42 percent of the team's offensive snaps. He was still third on the Broncos in targets last year, but it didn't feel like he was third on the team in targets. His involvement was more sporadic and inconsistent than anything else, and almost felt forced as opposed to Engram truly having a clarified role in the offense.
Troy Renck of The Denver Post is adding a little gasoline to the fire when it comes to Engram hype this offseason, noting that he's out there making linebackers look bad in coverage through two weeks of OTAs.
"Flash forward to the past two weeks. Engram is making light work of linebackers in coverage with eye-widening catches."
- Troy Renck, The Denver Post
Part of the reason for some renewed optimism with Engram this offseason is the fact that Davis Webb is now calling the plays for the Broncos' offense. Webb was teammates with Engram when they were on the New York Giants once upon a time, and was also a big reason why Engram signed with the Broncos in the first place.
Even though there is plenty of blame on the Broncos' side of things for not getting Engram more consistently involved in the offense, he also has to take ownership of his part in it. As Renck pointed out in his column, Engram had a career-worst drop rate of 10.5 percent last season.
The last time his drop rate was that high, he had over 100 targets with the New York Giants.
The Broncos need their veteran players offensively to step up for Bo Nix in a big way. If all of Evan Engram, Courtland Sutton, and newcomer Jaylen Waddle play up to their full potential in Denver, the offense will look leaps and bounds different in 2026.
And from the sounds of things at OTAs, Engram is on the right path toward doing his part.
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