ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Don’t call Evan Engram the “Joker” just yet.
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The ninth-year tight end has embraced coach Sean Payton’s vision of him as a versatile player who can create mismatches for Denver’s offense, led by second-year QB Bo Nix.
When he signed a two-year, $23 million deal in the spring, Engram took to X and posted a GIF of the late Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”
On Thursday, however, Engram said he still needs to earn the moniker.
“That is a cool thing to just embrace,” Engram said. “Sean talks about it a lot. It was a big part of the pitch coming here. The fans are great here, so was just embracing that narrative a little bit. I definitely see that it is something that has to be earned with the way I work and the way that I learn the offense to gain the trust of Sean, Bo and the rest of the coaches and players.
“I think we have a bunch of Jokers on this team, honestly, that can have a great role on this offense. It is definitely something that I like to embrace, but it is also something that I am going to earn, too.”
Actually, Engram is probably the only member of the Broncos offense who fits Payton’s description of the Joker.
Last year, Payton described the Joker as “either a running back or tight end with exceptional ball skills and then you can work matchups. We’ve had that at the running back . Reggie Bush was the Joker, Darren Sproles and Alvin Kamara. Those were all unique players, not just in the running game, but they had passing game skill sets that allowed you to do multiple things.”
Payton was hoping tight end Greg Dulcich would turn into his Joker last season, but his propensity to drop passes squelched that notion and led to his release.
So, Payton entered free agency this year intent on landing the traditional hallmark of his offense, and he did so when Engram signed with the Broncos after three seasons in Jacksonville and five with the New York Giants.
Before Engram agreed to Denver’s offer, Payton and the rest of the Broncos’ brain trust had to sweat through Engram’s subsequent visit with the AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers.
“Free agency is a crazy roller coaster,” said Engram, who was the 23rd overall pick by the Giants in 2017. “I took a visit to LA. It’s a great organization there, as well. I had a great visit with them, but the best place for me and my family was here in Denver. Just with the offense, the history here, the way the organization takes care of its players.”
On Thursday, the final day of organized team activities open to the media, Engram ran routes with receivers, not tight ends, and he stood out for his fluidity and his jersey number.
Asked why he chose No. 1, Engram said it was his number in high school. At Mississippi he wore No. 17, a number he revived with the Jaguars. So when the Broncos sent him a list of available numbers after he signed, he relayed the list to his family members, who all concurred he should wear No. 1 again.
“It’s a cool thing just to reconnect to the glory days of high school football,” Engram said.
The Broncos could be adding a veteran running back to their roster. Free agent J.K. Dobbins plans to visit Denver a week ahead of the team’s mandatory minincamp.
“We’ll have a chance to visit with him and then we’ll see where it goes,” Payton said. “We really like the group right now that we’re working with. It’s just another opportunity to possibly bring in another good football player to help us win.”
The Broncos drafted R.J. Harvey out of Central Florida in the second round of the NFL draft in April. He is viewed as a potential three-down back and leads a relatively young group of rushers that includes second-year pros Blake Watson and Audric Estime, third-year player Jaleel McLaughlin and fourth-year pro Tyler Badie.
Dobbins gained a career-best 905 yards on 195 carries and tied his career high with nine rushing touchdowns last year with the Chargers despite missing four games with a sprained knee.
If he signs, Dobbins could become a big contributor in the Broncos’ backfield. The former second-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens has an extensive injury history, including an ACL tear in 2021 and a torn Achilles tendon in 2023.
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June 22 – Portuguese club Porto’s squad for the Club World Cup includes midfielder Stephen Eustaquio, the captain of Canada, who is also listed in his national team’s roster for the ongoing CONCACAF Gold Cup being held in the United States.
Having a player represent both his club and national team in two official competitions at the same time is a rare occurrence in football history.
Porto began their campaign in the revamped tournament with a goalless draw against Brazil’s Palmeiras last Monday in East Rutherford, just one day before Canada’s Gold Cup opener in Vancouver.
With the Gold Cup jointly hosted by Canada and the U.S., and the Canadian team moving on to Houston, for the rest of their group stage matches, the possibility of Eustaquio joining the squad became realistic, provided Porto’s journey in the Club World Cup ends.
The flight from East Rutherford to Houston takes about three hours.
” allowed by FIFA and CONCACAF,” Canada’s media office told Reuters.
“Eustaquio was named to both rosters a few weeks back, and if fit and able, he will join Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team following Porto’s conclusion at the Club World Cup,” the national team added in an email.
The inclusion of the 28-year-old Eustaquio in both squads comes at a time when many players are wary of fatigue at the end of the season.
Porto did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Portuguese side wraps up the group stage with a match against Egypt’s Al Ahly on Monday. It remains unclear whether they will progress to the knockout rounds.
Canada, meanwhile, crushed Honduras 6–0, and drew 1-1 with Curacao on Sunday. They conclude the group stage against El Salvador on June 24.
Eustaquio came off the bench in the draw against Palmeiras and the 2–1 loss to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
The Canadian team said: “We want him to do well in the Club World Cup and we also would welcome him back into the men’s run at the Gold Cup.”
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Portuguese club Porto’s squad for the Club World Cup includes midfielder Stephen Eustaquio, the captain of Canada, who is also listed in his national team’s roster for the ongoing CONCACAF Gold Cup being held in the United States.
Having a player represent both his club and national team in two official competitions at the same time is a rare occurrence in football history.
Porto began its campaign in the revamped tournament with a goalless draw against Brazil’s Palmeiras last Monday in East Rutherford, just one day before Canada’s Gold Cup opener in Vancouver.
With the Gold Cup jointly hosted by Canada and the U.S., and the Canadian team moving on to Houston, for the rest of its group stage matches, the possibility of Eustaquio joining the squad became realistic, provided Porto’s journey in the Club World Cup ends.
The flight from East Rutherford to Houston takes about three hours.
“(It’s) allowed by FIFA and CONCACAF,” Canada’s media office told Reuters.
“Eustaquio was named to both rosters a few weeks back, and if fit and able, he will join Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team following Porto’s conclusion at the Club World Cup,” the national team added in an email.
The inclusion of the 28-year-old Eustaquio in both squads comes at a time when many players are wary of fatigue at the end of the season.
Porto did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Portuguese side wraps up the group stage with a match against Egypt’s Al Ahly on Monday. It remains unclear whether it will progress to the knockout rounds.
Canada, meanwhile, crushed Honduras 6–0 and drew 1–1 with Curacao on Sunday. It concludes the group stage against El Salvador on June 24.
Eustaquio came off the bench in the draw against Palmeiras and the 2–1 loss to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
The Canadian team said: “We want him to do well in the Club World Cup and we also would welcome him back into the men’s run at the Gold Cup.”
Leeds, Jasprit Bumrah is undoubtedly the world’s best bowler and extremely hard to face when he “comes in down the hill with lights on and swinging both ways”, feels England opener Ben Duckett after the India pace spearhead tormented the host batters in the opening Test here.
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Bumrah was exceptional, grabbing all the England wickets that fell on Day 2, including that of the dangerous Joe Root. England, though, recovered from the early loss of opener Zak Crawley to end the day on 209 for 3 in reply to India’s first innings total of 471.
One-down Ollie Pope was holding fort on unbeaten 100 with England still trailing by 262 runs.
“He is the best bowler in the world. He’s extremely hard to face, good in any conditions, and when he’s coming in down the hill with the lights on and it’s swinging both ways, it’s tough,” Duckett said after play on Day 2 Saturday.
“His ability to bowl three or four different balls with no cue you don’t know if he’s bowling a bouncer, or a slow ball, a yorker, an away-swinger or an inswinger until it comes out of his hand. You’ve got to watch the ball so hard with him, it’s very difficult to pick up Jasprit.”
Pope survived Bumrah onslaught to lead the England fightback and hit his ninth Test ton under trying conditions, and Duckett said the one-drop batter “stayed true to the way he plays”.
“He was just so calm coming out. He probably couldn’t come out in tougher conditions, with Jasprit Bumrah running down the hill with the lights on. I don’t know what’s inside his head, but he’s just stayed true to the way he plays,” said Duckett who made 62 before becoming Bumrah’s second victim.
“There’s no better feeling than that, scoring a hundred against that attack, coming out in the first over. You could see it in the way he celebrated, and it didn’t just mean a lot to him, it meant a huge amount in the dressing room as well. I had goosebumps for him.”
There was speculation about Pope’s place in the team despite his 171 in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe last month, but the century under pressure and against a fiery Bumrah may silence the sceptics for a while at least.
“We’re very good at keeping things in the dressing room, but obviously you can hear the noise from outside of it. There’s noise outside the dressing room but there’s no noise in it. We’re not having discussions about who’s going to play,” said Duckett.
“It seemed pretty clear coming into this Test match that if a bloke scores 171 a few weeks ago he’s going to play this one. The way Pope has dealt with that has just been superb and just sums up and proves why he’s England’s No 3 and doing the things that he’s doing.”
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
