Evan Engram is widely considered one of the most talented tight ends in all of football when healthy. Unfortunately, staying healthy has not been of Engram’s strong suit over his three-year NFL career.
The New York Giants pass-catcher appeared in just eight games in 2019 before going down with what proved to be a season-ending foot injury. An injury that was believed to keep Engram sidelined and in a boot up until training camp, per the New York Post.
However, from the looks of things, it appears Engram has shed his walking boot ahead of schedule and is making legitimate strides in his rehab.
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Evan Engram Ditches Walking Boot, Begins Running
Engram posted a roughly 10-second clip in an Instagram story on Wednesday that showed the Giants star tight end, boot-less, running on a treadmill, quarantine mask and all.
Speaking of quarantine, Giants general manager Dave Gettleman is likely as ecstatic as most Big Blue fans are to see the positive development in Engram’s rehab. According to Gettleman, the COVID-19 outbreak has derailed his knowledge of Engram’s injury status, as he hasn’t seen the tight end in over a month.
I haven’t seen him. None of us have been in the building in over a month. As far as I know, he’s doing fine. That’s all I know.
Giants Must Decide on Engram’s 5th-Year Option This Week
Despite rumblings of a potential trade to the San Francisco 49ers a few weeks back, Engram appears set to be part of the Giants organization in 2020. However, beyond that is still very much up in the air.
The Giants, like many teams, must decide on the fifth-year option on former 1st-Round selections from the 2017 NFL Draft. New York currently has two 1st-rounders from the class on their roster, with safety Jabrill Pepper joining Engram as the other.
Per NFL rules, picking up the 5th-year option for a player selected outside of the top-10 (picks 11-32) as both Engram and Peppers were, would mean paying them the average salary of the third through 25th highest salaried players at their positions.
The one catch, the one-year extension becomes guaranteed from injury. This is something that the Giants may rightfully be wary about pertaining to Engram. The tight end has played in just 19 of his 32 potential games over the past two years and has yet to complete a full 16 game slate in his three-year career.
Gettleman addressed the looming decision on the two playmakers following the conclusion of the 2020 NFL Draft on Saturday with members of the media.
We’ll make the decisions this coming week. With the craziness on and off the field so to speak over the last six weeks, we’ve had preliminary conversations. We’ll make those decisions pretty quick.
Peppers appears to be cemented as a key cog in the Giants secondary for the long-term and will certainly have his option picked up. In Engram’s case, Despite injury concerns, expect his option to picked up as well. His talent is too good to pass up at the moderate price tag attached to his contract.
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Giants’ Evan Engram Ahead of Schedule, Out of Walking Boot & Running [LOOK]