Analyze Evan Engram's matchup for week 9
Denver’s Evan Engram has become a low-volume, short-area option with only 7.8 YPR and one TD; Houston’s middling TE defense won’t help enough to make him anything more than a desperation bye-week plug-in.
The Texans allow the third-most fantasy points to tight ends (14 per game) on 5.7 catches and 55.7 yards, but those numbers are inflated by volume, not big plays.
Engram has topped 40 yards only twice in eight games, played fewer than 50% of snaps in every contest, and has yet to record a reception longer than 24 yards.
Engram’s 47-365-1 line ranks 33rd at the position because Sean Payton uses him almost exclusively as a check-down outlet and red-zone afterthought; his 73% catch rate is hollow when the aDOT sits barely above six yards. Against Houston’s Cover-3 looks, he’ll draw safety Jalen Pitre in the short middle—an area the Texans concede but where Engram has generated a league-low 1.2 yards per route run this season. Bo Nix has targeted him on just 12% of attempts, a rate that would need to double to push Engram into low-end TE1 territory. Until snap share climbs above 60% or red-zone targets increase, the matchup remains neutral on paper and negative for fantasy because his usage caps the ceiling at a 4-35-0 stat line.