On March 13, he donned a digital mask, the last post on Evan Engram’s X feed the beginning of a new identity in Denver.
It was a simple GIF, after months and years of talk of Sean Payton’s need for a “Joker,” of Heath Ledger leaning his head out of a police car in “The Dark Knight.” Stringy hair. Iconic face paint. The message was clear.
The tweet has been viewed nearly two million times since. It was fan service, maybe. It was also a sort of self-challenge after Engram inked a three-year deal with Denver in March. Payton’s idea of The Joker isn’t simply a cute moniker. It’s an identity, a specific utilization of a matchup nightmare, and a “big part of the pitch” for the veteran tight end to come to Denver.
“It’s definitely something that I’d like to embrace,” Engram said Thursday in his first availability with Broncos reporters since signing with the team. “It’s something I’m gonna go earn, too.”
It’s also something that he’s never quite experienced. Across an eight-year NFL career, Engram’s always wanted to be seen in that vein as an offensive weapon, longtime trainer Drew Lieberman told The Denver Post in March. He wanted to be a wild card. Wanted to wear different hats. At Broncos OTAs, the 6-foot-3 Engram has worked frequently with Denver’s receivers — not tight ends — in positional drills.
It’s a new era as The Joker, then, for the two-time Pro Bowler. But underneath that mantle is a different, longstanding identity, one he’s carried from Georgia to New York to Jacksonville, through early years of shaky hands and later years of nagging injuries.
“I like to call myself ‘The Cleaner,’” Engram said Thursday.
“The guy that’s gonna come in every single day, and do what he’s asked at the highest level possible,” he continued. “Like I said — the guy that’s gonna embrace adversity, embrace challenges, but also bring a great amount of energy and leadership even in those times of adversity, and humbleness in times of success.”
Through a rocky five-year start to his career in New York — first-round draft choice in 2017, Pro Bowler in 2020, and subject of intense vitriol amid struggles with drops — Engram’s attitude and leadership “never wavered,” former Giants tight end coach Derek Dooley told The Post. He played more free for three years in Jacksonville, submitting a 114-catch season in 2023. After an injury-plagued 2024, the Jaguars cut bait early enough to give Engram a long runway to explore free-agent options.
The Broncos, Engram said Thursday, were the first team to call him.
“Just the expectations that are here, the team that’s here, the quarterback that’s here, coach that’s here — I mean, I can literally go on for days,” Engram said when asked what drew him to Denver. “So, blessed to be here.”
About that quarterback: Nix played a direct role, both active and passive, in Engram’s arrival in Denver. The two got lunch together on his initial visit in March, with the 25-year-old Nix walking him through his “process” and offseason work, as Engram described. And as the tight end flew around the western United States on free-agent visits, heading to Los Angeles to meet with the Chargers after he stopped in Denver, he downloaded some of Nix’s 2024 tape on his laptop.
The two have been around each other “a lot” since Engram arrived in Denver, as Nix said last week. And the veteran tight end will instantly step in as the most senior member of Denver’s receiving corps — a long-developed arc of early-career struggle into mid-career breakout under Engram’s belt.
“The potential is through the roof,” Engram said of Nix. “And I like to see myself as someone that can come in and help his development and take this team to another level.”
Engram’s past and future are coalescing, now, on his very jersey in Denver. He wore No. 1 for years in high school football in Georgia, where he starred at Hillgrove High but floated as an under-recruited pass-catcher.
After signing with the Broncos, Payton sent Engram a list of available numbers. Engram, in turn, relayed them to his family for advice. The consensus was unanimous: No. 1.
It sits proudly on the back of his orange uniform in OTAs, the 30-year-old Engram’s role now both unlocked and defined.
“Where I’m at in my career, and how much I’ve learned, and the talent I’ve worked for and the experiences I have — to be able to bring that here and wear that jersey number again, I don’t take that lightly,” he said Thursday.
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