Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Evan Engram led the team in yards after catch during the 2022 season with 465 — more than half of the 766 receiving yards he recorded on the season. Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs was the only tight end in the NFL to record more YAC.
Engram’s success after the catch is no accident.
In an interview with former NFL receiver Greg Jennings of The 33rd Team, Engram said that he has spent a lot of time focusing on the details necessary to be dangerous after the catch.
“The more I honed in on the yards after catch aspect of the game, there are so many details that go into YAC,” Engram told Jennings. “Every movement counts. Every step you take on the football field, it counts.
“Guys that jump when the football comes — I do that sometimes — when the ball’s thrown to me, I do a little hop. It’s just a habit, it’s just a comfort thing of catching the football. But when I do that, it’s slowing me down from catching the ball, my feet being down and getting upfield and maximizing the play and maximizing the yardage.”
Engram, who is expected to receive the franchise tag from the Jaguars, said that he still has a lot of strides to make in those little details.
“Just continuing to hone in on the craft of catching the football,” Engram said of the improvements he hopes to make. “Catching the football, continuing to catch it more confident, running through the football full speed, extending my hands and not letting it get to my body, eyes on the ball. All the little details that go into catching the football, it leads to so many other things that prevail you to be a great player.”
Engram, 28, had a reputation for drops after catching 61.1 percent of his targets in five seasons with the New York Giants. In his first season in Jacksonville, Engram caught a career-high 74.5 percent of his targets.
