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Sep 7, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos tight end Evan Engram (1) in the second half at Empower Field at Mile High. Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Broncos TE Evan Engram Quietly Makes NFL History in Colts Loss

Originally posted on Denver Broncos on SI
By Keith Cummings | Last updated Sep 16, 2025 4:04 PM ET

Despite making key offseason additions to the Denver Broncos offense, head coach Sean Payton's quest to realize his "Joker" vision continues through Week 2 of the regular season. Tight end Evan Engram was supposed to provide the mismatch weapon component to Payton's offense, but the wait goes on.

Engram limped out of the season opener against the Tennessee Titans with a calf injury. The 31-year-old has only amassed four catches for 33 yards through two games as a Bronco.

Whether Engram was hampered by his calf injury against the Colts isn't known, but his one catch for 12 yards at least helped him achieve a noteworthy career milestone.

Engram's catch vs. the Colts gave him 500 for his career, becoming the eighth-fastest tight end in NFL history to reach the 500-reception mark. That's an amazing individual achievement, but it's cold comfort to Broncos fans who hoped he'd be a true difference-maker.

Believe it or not, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix explained post-game that Engram was very much a primary target on Sunday, which makes the tight end's lack of production all the more frustrating.

"Sometimes the ball finds you, sometimes it doesn't. We've got game-plan plays for him, and sometimes they just do a good job taking it away," Nix said post-game of Engram's one-catch performance. "He's No.1 quite often. And I thought they did a good job, as a whole, taking away [the] No. 1."

By way of a silver lining, the Colts' game-plan to take Engram away may have allowed the Broncos to get their running game going a little bit.

"They played, got in our face, which is also why the run game was working, because they could tell they were a little bit on the pass game and wanted to take receivers away," Nix explained. "And I thought that's why the run game was clicking early because we were able to block them up and get them going without a post safety."

Sutton Also Nearly Shut Out

Broncos wide receiver Troy Franklin had a breakout game, catching eight balls for 89 yards and a touchdown, helping Nix's former Oregon teammate put the NFL on notice. Courtland Sutton suffered much the same fate as Engram against the Colts, catching one pass for six yards.

Sutton serving as nothing more than a decoy in this offense is unsustainable, regardless of how Nix framed things after the Broncos choked one away.

"From the get-go, they were even in their post high man [coverage]. Their free safety was over him [Sutton], and that was clearly their plan," Nix said. "They were going to try to take away the 'gimmies', take away his normal throws, which is why guys like Troy and Pat [Bryant] had big days because they take away one side, we're able to hit them on the other side. And I've got to find a way to get Courtland the ball, because he's one of our better players."

Payton and Nix need to scheme Engram a significant share of the targets. That will take more attention away from Sutton and force opponents to play the Broncos more honestly.

Nix Regains Some Rhythm

Nix getting back into rhythm should help Engram over the long haul, and the Broncos' quarterback took some encouraging steps in that direction in Week 2, especially in the first half with three touchdown passes. But the Colts' defense slowed Nix as the second half progressed.

Payton conceded that the offense ran into some issues after scoring 21 first-half points on Sunday, so we can only presume that going with heavier personnel didn't help Engram's chances of getting targeted down the field.

"Obviously, we didn't do as well on third down," Payton said post-game. "Look, some of the early sub runs that were effective in the first half, I think they did a pretty good job of eliminating those in the second half. We got into some heavier personnel groupings."