Giants rule out TE Evan Engram for Week 2 with calf injury (Report)

09/15/2021

evan engram giants — Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The injury woes continue for Giants tight end Evan Engram, who will miss Thursday’s game with a lingering calf injury.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports the Big Blue tight end will miss Thursday night’s matchup with the Washington Football Team due to a calf injury. Engram originally sustained the injury during the team’s third and final preseason game (against the Patriots) back on Aug. 29.

Engram additionally missed the Week 1 loss to Denver due to this issue.

The #Giants ruled out TE Evan Engram with a calf injury, as he’ll miss his second straight game.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 15, 2021

To replace him, the Giants employ veteran Kyle Rudolph, who caught two balls for eight yards Sunday, as well as Kaden Smith. You could argue the organization anticipated Engram missing a second consecutive game due to the fact it protected practice squad tight end Chris Myarick.

Giants' practice squad protections this week: pic.twitter.com/u4WlClv2w8

— Big Blue View (@bigblueview) September 14, 2021

Once again, Daniel Jones won’t have his full slate of weapons alongside him on the game field, which will prevent this offense from figuring out what it could fully accomplish with this current offensive coaching staff.

The Giants are already limited with a weak offensive line and uncreative play-caller in Jason Garrett; dealing with injuries to starting skill players further limits what this unit can do.

It’s unclear when Engram will be back, but the Giants having an extended period between their Week 2 and 3 matchups could help his chances of returning against Atlanta (Sunday, Sept. 26).

Or, if the Giants feel Engram won’t be healthy enough for a decent amount of time, they could place him on injured reserve and coincidingly open up an active roster spot. Placing Engram on IR would require him to miss the subsequent three games.

This isn’t Evan’s first battle with injuries at the professional level.

Although he played in all 16 regular-season games last season, the fifth-year tight end missed 14 total games through his first three years in the league (2017-19).