A one-time Giants’ draft pick beat Monday’s deadline and signed a big-money extension to avoid the franchise tag.
No, it’s not Saquon Barkley, who is still locked in a negotiation stalemate with the Giants.
Tight end Evan Engram and the Jacksonville Jaguars agreed Sunday to a three-year, $41.25 million contract extension that includes $24 million guaranteed, according to reports.
Engram was set to play under the franchise tag worth $11.345 million in 2023, but the new deal supplies a raise that essentially will pay him about $30 million over two years, per NFL Network.
It’s the biggest contract of Engram’s career and a reward for his breakout first season with the Jaguars.
He earned $16.7 million over five seasons with the Giants, who used their 2017 first-round pick on him.
Engram joined the Jaguars on a one-year, $9.2 million prove-it contract and then delivered career-highs of 73 catches and 766 yards.
He cut down on the drops and eliminated the injuries that plagued his up-and-down career with the Giants.
Engram’s new contract leaves just three players left on the franchise tag: Barkley and fellow running backs Josh Jacobs (Raiders) and Tony Pollard (Cowboys).
The current situations for Barkley and Engram ironically highlight a problem in NFL negotiations these days.
During their four seasons as teammates (2018-21), the Giants rode Barkley for 849 touches to Engram’s 211 and Barkley scored 27 touchdowns to Engram’s 11, but Engram is making the type of money that Barkley desires and can’t seem to squeeze out of the Giants simply because Engram plays tight end instead of running back.
The market for running backs has plummeted, as most recently highlighted by the Bengals’ Joe Mixon accepting a pay cut.
Franchise-tagged players have until 4 p.m. Monday to negotiate long-term extensions.
Once the deadline passes, they must either play on the tag ($10.1 million for running backs) or sit out the season.
The extension means that Engram’s average annual pay ($13.75M) will rank sixth among tight ends, behind the Giants’ Darren Waller, 49ers’ George Kittle, Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, Eagles’ Dallas Goedert and Ravens’ Mark Andrews.
Engram reacted to the signing by publishing a photo of himself looking up at a crowd of Jaguars fans and captioned it “I’m home” with the folded hands emoji to show gratitude.
Barkley responded with “Congrats brudda keep going” as well as the fingers crossed and black heart emojis.
