Rookie Report Card: Evan Engram and Jamaal Williams

Dan Meylor

Each week throughout the season, I’ll cover at least two rookies in the Rookie Report Card and try to always include the biggest performers from that particular week. On top of reviewing my expectations for each player coming into the league and covering how he’s performed at the NFL level to this point, I’ll actually give him a grade in three categories. Those categories are performance to date, 2017 potential and long term upside.

The series continues with a look at Evan Engram and Jamaal Williams.

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Evan Engram, TE NYG
Week 13 Stats: seven receptions, 99 yards, one touchdown (eight targets)

Coming out of Ole Miss, Engram was one of the most electrifying tight end prospects to enter the league in years. A mismatch all over the field in the SEC, he caught 65 passes for 926 yards and eight touchdowns in his final year in Oxford. Lining up as both an in-line tight end as well as out wide, he was far too big and powerful for any corner to defend and much too fast for most linebackers.

Engram’s play was dominant at times in college, starting at the line of scrimmage.

Watching Engram explode off the ball is reminiscent of a young Jimmy Graham with the Saints. So quick at the snap, he gets into his routes as fast as any tight end in the game. Once into his route, Engram uses short, quick strides at the top of his routes to sharpen his breaks before exploding to create separation with ease.

That route running combined with great leaping ability, an excellent catch radius and impressive run after the catch talent made him one of the most intriguing dynasty prospect in last year’s draft. When he landed with the Giants late in the first round, the hype gained steam to the point that some had him as high as seventh on their rookie draft boards.

While I didn’t quite have Engram that high, I saw him as one of my favorite rookie picks late in the first round. Needless to say, I wish I had ranked him much higher.

In Engram’s first 12 games as a pro, he’s piled up 51 catches for 569 yards and six touchdowns. Those numbers translate to a top five fantasy performer at the position – which is nearly unheard of from a rookie.

While he’s had a few duds along the way – like week five against the Chargers when he was shut out, week 11 when he was held to one catch for 11 yards and week 12 when he caught three balls for 18 yards – he’s been one of the most reliable tight ends in fantasy in his first year. In fact, in the nine other games this season, he has at least four catches for at least 44 yards in all of them.

Although Engram has struggled with drops at times as a rookie, which is something that has followed him from Ole Miss, he’s already vaulted himself the conversation of the top tight ends in dynasty. Current positional rankings here at DLF have Engram ranked third at the position, with the highest ranker putting him at second and lowest at sixth.

While it would take consistent elite numbers for Engram to make the leap all the way to the top of those rankings, there’s no doubt his name belongs alongside Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce. Just 23 years old and already proving to be a consistent threat, he’s one of the top young dynasty assets in the game regardless of position. It’d take a king’s ransom for me to deal him at this point. In fact, I’d recommend offering Kelce or Gronk to an Engram owner now. After all, considering their age (28) and Engram’s upside, you may not have much time before that’s not a viable offer.

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Jamaal Williams, RB GB
Week 13 Stats: 21 carries, 113 yards (5.4 YPC), one touchdown, two receptions, 10 yards (three targets)

Like many dynasty owners, I spend a great deal of my free time between December and March each year watching film of the upcoming draft class. As a Packers fan I watched running back prospects last year with a little more interest than usual. So as I was building my rookie rankings, I was also creating a mental wish list of the tailbacks I hoped would land in Green Bay.

Although Jamaal Williams wasn’t near the top of either of those lists (Marlon Mack and Elijah McGuire were and I’m still annoyed they passed on them for Williams), I was still hopeful he’d have some upside in Green Bay after the Packers took him late in the fourth round of the draft.

Watching Williams’ college film, I saw him as a big (6’-0”, 212 pounds), powerful runner that could find rushing lanes well and always used his size to his advantage between the tackles – which appeared to be the right kind of compliment to their starter at the time, Ty Montgomery. Because I figured Williams to be part of a committee, I overlooked the average explosion at the line of scrimmage and inability to make defenders miss in the open field that I saw when watching him play at BYU.

Despite the lack of burst, I preferred Williams over fellow Packers rookie Aaron Jones during draft season but quickly reversed my perspective in the preseason.

Williams averaged just 2.4 yards per carry on 25 totes while catching four passes for 52 yards in four preseason games. He was hit in the backfield regularly, looked sluggish getting through running lanes and was brought down by arm tacklers on multiple occasions. After watching him play in September, I went as far as calling him a, “plodder that can get what is blocked but not much more.”

Meanwhile, Jones was brilliant. He averaged nearly five yards per carry and scored a couple touchdowns, looking athletic and natural with the ball in his hands. It was obvious who the better tailback was – and despite Williams’ first career 100-yard game in week 13, I continue to believe the same.

Williams was decisive and ran with urgency against the Buccaneers in week 13. He regularly used his plus-vision to change directions at the line of scrimmage to get into running lanes or cut back on defenders, and his emphatic stiff arm in the second quarter to put the explanation point on a 25-yard run was impressive. Also carrying defenders for extra yardage on multiple occasions – including on his one-yard touchdown run in the second quarter when he was hit at the three yard line – he kept his legs churning throughout the game.

Watching Williams’ killer instinct running style since getting an opportunity has opened my eyes a bit to his upside, although I question why it took until he had the backfield to himself for that to happen. With that said however, I still have a hard time seeing him overcome his physical limitations as well as the low-end RB1 upside of Jones will cap his potential to that of a backup who can fill in nicely when needed.

Williams looked good against the Bucs but the best tailback in Green Bay got one carry in that game, where he changed directions in the backfield and turned on the jets, going 20-yards for the game winning score in overtime.

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dan meylor