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Transcript

The O-Zone Podcast | Evan Engram on Embracing Challenge & Evolving His Career in Duval County · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: All right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast, and I
0:02
Speaker 1: have a guest who's very familiar. We've done this a
0:05
Speaker 1: few times. Always look forward to this environment, this situation,
0:09
Speaker 1: getting a chance to talk to Jaguars tight end Evan
0:11
Speaker 1: Ingram Evan. Once again, I appreciate it.
0:14
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Love being on here.
0:16
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you a couple of things to
0:18
Speaker 1: start off with about the team in general. Obviously nobody
0:21
Speaker 1: expected this season. How surprised are you that the team
0:27
Speaker 1: is here? And I guess how do you see it
0:30
Speaker 1: handling this going forward?
0:32
Speaker 2: Yeah? Very disappointed. Sure, nowhere near the expectation we had.
0:40
Speaker 2: Nowhere near the expectation with the talent that we have
0:44
Speaker 2: and what we felt like we were as a team.
0:47
Speaker 2: So I'm very disappointing. And I guess moving forward is
0:56
Speaker 2: obviously we have to, you know, take some of these
0:58
Speaker 2: lessons and some of this disappointment and uh and a
1:04
Speaker 2: lot of the adversity that we've faced. We have to
1:07
Speaker 2: turn it into, you know, something for the future. We
1:09
Speaker 2: have to turn it in some type of turn it
1:12
Speaker 2: into some type of fuel for the future. The one
1:15
Speaker 2: never let this happen again? In too just you know
1:17
Speaker 2: universally learned from it as a team collective, as a
1:21
Speaker 2: coaching staff collective for what we're trying to take, you know,
1:25
Speaker 2: this franchise and this program, realizing how hard that is
1:29
Speaker 2: and how with the one bad player, two or three
1:35
Speaker 2: mistakes in the game, we can drop seven or eight games,
1:39
Speaker 2: I don't know what number it is by one score,
1:41
Speaker 2: like that's the league. So definitely, I think there's an
1:45
Speaker 2: opportunity for us to finish this season the right way,
1:48
Speaker 2: have fun. We have literally nothing to lose but everything
1:53
Speaker 2: to gain as far as you know, learning from this
1:57
Speaker 2: and you know, kind of starting to turn the PA.
2:00
Speaker 1: It may be too much the same question, but what
2:02
Speaker 1: do you feel like you've learned from this seat anything
2:04
Speaker 1: in particular, something for after the season when you're sort
2:08
Speaker 1: of decompressive.
2:10
Speaker 2: Obviously, there is definitely a period after the season where
2:13
Speaker 2: you know, it's a lot easier to kind of look back.
2:14
Speaker 2: We're still kind of we're still trying to go win
2:16
Speaker 2: this game in Tennessee. But uh, I mean I've I've
2:21
Speaker 2: I've had my fair share of kind of struggles, you know,
2:24
Speaker 2: rough seasons, and uh, I think the I think this
2:30
Speaker 2: one's the hardest because I haven't seen one guy like,
2:34
Speaker 2: you know, tap or you know, I can check out.
2:39
Speaker 2: Everybody's just been so committed figuring this out. So but uh,
2:43
Speaker 2: that's just you know, just a reminder of how tough
2:46
Speaker 2: this league is, how tough it is to win in
2:47
Speaker 2: this league, and how tough it is to pursue a
2:50
Speaker 2: championship in this league and you know, make the playoffs,
2:52
Speaker 2: win the division, like, it's really hard. Obviously it's easy
2:55
Speaker 2: to you know, create those goals, but it's one thing
2:57
Speaker 2: to actually do it weekend and week out. So it's
3:00
Speaker 2: a great lesson for all of us.
3:02
Speaker 1: That's interesting because I hadn't really asked about that, but
3:04
Speaker 1: the first thing you said was, hey, I haven't seen
3:06
Speaker 1: anybody tap out. So fans automatically think that when you're
3:11
Speaker 1: two and ten that that's what's going on, but absolutely
3:16
Speaker 1: not from your perspective, you see a locker room of
3:18
Speaker 1: guys that are committed.
3:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can say that because I've seen the I've
3:22
Speaker 2: seen the other shot, I've seen you know, Yeah, I
3:26
Speaker 2: get it, just that people hitting that fast forward button.
3:29
Speaker 2: So but that's not but not here. I don't I
3:32
Speaker 2: don't think that's here. I just think we came into
3:35
Speaker 2: the season, putting in a lot of work, and you know,
3:37
Speaker 2: we have the right mindset to no matter what the
3:40
Speaker 2: circumstance is, finish the job together.
3:42
Speaker 1: Now, I know you've discussed it already, so we're not
3:44
Speaker 1: gonna hit this very long. But the situation the other day,
3:48
Speaker 1: you were the first guy in closer to Trevor Lawrence h.
3:51
Speaker 1: Demiko Ryans has said you let the team overreacted. If
3:54
Speaker 1: you want to address that, fine, but overall, what was
3:59
Speaker 1: your thought on how the team responded to that situation?
4:02
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, I mean, you know, I really don't. I
4:07
Speaker 2: really have nothing to say about like everybody else's comments.
4:10
Speaker 2: You know, he's gonna stick up for his guys and
4:13
Speaker 2: we're gonna stick up for ours. But uh, I just
4:16
Speaker 2: think that's just that's just part of uh it's just
4:19
Speaker 2: part of the brotherhood that you know, we create here,
4:23
Speaker 2: you know, not saying that, you know, not saying dude
4:25
Speaker 2: is a dirty player. I think it was just a
4:27
Speaker 2: bad play on his part, questionable play, and uh that's
4:32
Speaker 2: just how the game goes. When you see something like that,
4:33
Speaker 2: you witness something like that, and there's just there's just
4:37
Speaker 2: a retaliation, just kind of like in the code as
4:40
Speaker 2: far as you know, true competitors and a real you know,
4:43
Speaker 2: real family, real brotherhood, which I see Trevor. You know,
4:47
Speaker 2: we've become brother since being here, and I know how
4:50
Speaker 2: hard he works, I know how hard he worked to
4:52
Speaker 2: get back in the game. So so yeah, it was
4:55
Speaker 2: just a very unfortunate sequence of events. Definitely, I just
5:01
Speaker 2: definitely appreciate just guys kind of sticking up for for
5:06
Speaker 2: our guy that was, you know, knocked out of the game.
5:08
Speaker 2: So obviously the you know, everything that ensued is you know,
5:14
Speaker 2: tough to watch and you know, sideline clearing and all
5:18
Speaker 2: that stuff. You don't you know, you don't want to
5:19
Speaker 2: see that, But.
5:21
Speaker 1: But how else can you react, do you think?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's I think we had nature.
5:25
Speaker 1: It would have been weird if everybody's standing on the
5:27
Speaker 1: sidelines after that.
5:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think I think we handled it the
5:30
Speaker 2: right way. Obviously, you know, stuck up for each other,
5:32
Speaker 2: guys got involved, and then I just I think we
5:35
Speaker 2: did a great job of finishing the game and trying
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Speaker 2: to go win the game with discipline and and doing
5:40
Speaker 2: it the right way.
5:42
Speaker 1: That's the key, right the game's too hard to be
5:45
Speaker 1: thinking about revenge and trying to win the game.
5:49
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I mean there's two you know, and yeah,
5:52
Speaker 2: I think I think there's some people out there that
5:55
Speaker 2: probably wanted to see it continue, which that's just you know,
5:59
Speaker 2: when you're trying to win the game, you can't have
6:01
Speaker 2: that in your mind. You can't have that. That's just
6:04
Speaker 2: a distraction towards, you know, trying to win the game.
6:07
Speaker 2: So definitely, uh, definitely credit to the guys and the
6:12
Speaker 2: guys that you know, we're able to kind of collect
6:14
Speaker 2: themselves and go out there and try to win it
6:16
Speaker 2: and try to fight the right way between the lines
6:19
Speaker 2: and between the whistles.
6:20
Speaker 1: Now, for people who don't know, not all NFL players
6:23
Speaker 1: are good friends with everybody on their team, but you
6:26
Speaker 1: and Trevor pretty tight off the field as well. Have
6:29
Speaker 1: you talked to him, How is he? What are your
6:30
Speaker 1: feelings on that?
6:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw him. I saw him Monday and Tuesday.
6:36
Speaker 2: You know, it was just good to see him kind
6:38
Speaker 2: of back moving around being himself. It was he you know,
6:42
Speaker 2: talked to him about everything that you know, happened afterwards,
6:45
Speaker 2: and yeah, just I just you know glad that you know,
6:49
Speaker 2: it's not you know, didn't make anything worse and just
6:53
Speaker 2: glad he was able to just get up on his
6:55
Speaker 2: own and for him to come in the locker room
6:58
Speaker 2: and you know, you know, show that he's okay. Show
7:01
Speaker 2: I said, he's fine, and he's gonna be fine. So yeah,
7:05
Speaker 2: it's definitely definitely, very unfortunate to see, but definitely glad
7:09
Speaker 2: he's gonna be all right.
7:10
Speaker 1: We've talked before, but your career has always been fascinating
7:17
Speaker 1: to me in the sense that you continue to improve
7:20
Speaker 1: each year as you go along. Not every guy does that,
7:22
Speaker 1: but I see how you work. I see how you
7:24
Speaker 1: work before games, during practice of after practice. I know
7:30
Speaker 1: the numbers don't support it this year because you're out
7:32
Speaker 1: for a while, but how much pride do you take
7:34
Speaker 1: in continuing to improve eighth years still sort of trending up?
7:38
Speaker 1: I guess what I'm getting at.
7:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I just find uh, there's just there's
7:45
Speaker 2: a lot of good things in adversity, and I've I've
7:48
Speaker 2: I've faced a lot of adversity in my career. And
7:51
Speaker 2: it used to be the adversity would keep me down
7:54
Speaker 2: and you know, keep me unconfident and doubtful.
7:57
Speaker 1: And a tough place to be in New York for.
7:59
Speaker 2: Sure, But then I you know, I was able to
8:01
Speaker 2: turn the page and look at the adversity as lessons
8:04
Speaker 2: and look at the adversity as opportunities and learning true
8:07
Speaker 2: learning experiences. So I just think and that I think
8:11
Speaker 2: with that perspective, you have no choice but to constantly improve.
8:16
Speaker 2: You have no choice but to constantly grow.
8:18
Speaker 1: Uh.
8:18
Speaker 2: If you look at you know, a bad play or
8:22
Speaker 2: you know, a drop or a miss block, something that
8:25
Speaker 2: unfortunately that happens on the field, there's a detail in
8:27
Speaker 2: there somewhere that that paints the whole picture, that that
8:30
Speaker 2: that gives you the answer to fix it. And I'm
8:34
Speaker 2: just obsessed with, you know, finding those answers and responding
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Speaker 2: to the adversity and looking at you know, a bad
8:41
Speaker 2: play or a loss or you know, something unfortunate and
8:46
Speaker 2: finding the lesson in there, finding the correct the correction,
8:49
Speaker 2: the detail, and then improving on it. And uh and
8:52
Speaker 2: you always you always get the opportunity back and then
8:55
Speaker 2: you make it right. So I've just been been been
8:58
Speaker 2: just blessed with that perspect and I've had a lot
9:00
Speaker 2: of great people in my cornering, a lot of great
9:02
Speaker 2: coaches and teammates and and a lot of you know,
9:06
Speaker 2: learned from a lot of great people as well. So
9:09
Speaker 2: just you know, blessed to be able to respond to adversity.
9:12
Speaker 2: If I can put a uh, you know, paraphrase on.
9:15
Speaker 1: It, No, well, knock on wood here. There's no way
9:17
Speaker 1: to uh you to be a jinx. But when you
9:19
Speaker 1: got here, all anybody ever wanted to talk about was
9:22
Speaker 1: your hands, right, I mean, that was the thing. It's
9:26
Speaker 1: almost hard to remember that that was ever a thing, right.
9:28
Speaker 1: And uh, that's another example, I guess of you saying, Okay,
9:32
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna work on this and show real improvement.
9:37
Speaker 1: I've been around NFL players who try to improve and don't. Right.
9:40
Speaker 1: I guess how much of a source of pride is
9:43
Speaker 1: that that that's not a thing?
9:45
Speaker 2: Uh. Yeah, it's it's kind of it's turned into it's
9:49
Speaker 2: kind of turned into a curse at the same time,
9:52
Speaker 2: because you know, you start to strive for perfection and
9:56
Speaker 2: then you obviously there's those ones that you wish you
9:59
Speaker 2: went back. But uh but yeah, it just uh it's cool.
10:03
Speaker 2: I definitely, you know, I definitely always feel like there's
10:06
Speaker 2: room for improvement, and uh, it's it's just it's for
10:13
Speaker 2: I'm just blessed to be as confident as I am
10:15
Speaker 2: and I feel, and I appreciate the work I put in.
10:18
Speaker 2: I'm thankful for the work I put it to allow
10:20
Speaker 2: me to have that confidence and to know when the
10:22
Speaker 2: game is on the line and you know the team
10:24
Speaker 2: needs to play, if you call my number, I mean,
10:27
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go make that play. I'm gonna come down
10:28
Speaker 2: with the ball. So yeah, I think it's just like
10:32
Speaker 2: I said, just blessed to experience some of the lessons
10:35
Speaker 2: I've learned, and you know, some of the diversity I've
10:37
Speaker 2: been through, and just thankful for the work I put
10:40
Speaker 2: in for me allowed to have that confidence.
10:43
Speaker 1: Now for people wo don't know, you were miked up
10:45
Speaker 1: the other day, and when players miked up, it means
10:48
Speaker 1: our Jaguars media people have a camera on you the
10:50
Speaker 1: whole game. I was watching him edit it and they
10:53
Speaker 1: were actually showing three or four blocks. Now you're receiving
10:57
Speaker 1: tight end. Yeah, everybody says receiving tight end can't block, right,
11:01
Speaker 1: But the question is how much pride do you take
11:04
Speaker 1: in that because you were laying some guys out, and
11:06
Speaker 1: there may have been some incentive in those blocks in
11:08
Speaker 1: the second half, but how much pride you take in that.
11:11
Speaker 2: I take a lot of pride in that, and honestly, honestly,
11:14
Speaker 2: you know, I want to give credit to my mentality
11:20
Speaker 2: for the run game this year and it's Britain Strange
11:22
Speaker 2: and Luke Ferrell h the way they get after in
11:26
Speaker 2: the ring game. I take it as a challenge. It
11:29
Speaker 2: challenges me, It pushes me, uh to you know, bring
11:33
Speaker 2: that same energy and bring that same uh positive effect
11:38
Speaker 2: for the team. And yeah, so I take a lot
11:42
Speaker 2: of pride in the run game and trying to be
11:43
Speaker 2: physical and you know, I get it all the time
11:46
Speaker 2: is you know he's not in the block, he's not
11:48
Speaker 2: you know, they're not running this way and this and that.
11:52
Speaker 2: So when I do get in there and I can
11:54
Speaker 2: you know, make a block that can help spring or run,
11:58
Speaker 2: it's honestly very exciting. It's a little bit more or
12:00
Speaker 2: exciting and able to be more present in it than
12:03
Speaker 2: actually like catching the big pass and you know, making
12:05
Speaker 2: a big play through the air. Love love you know,
12:08
Speaker 2: making those blocks that spring big runs. So yeah, definitely
12:13
Speaker 2: just shout out to our standard in our tight end room.
12:16
Speaker 2: You know, our big thing is finishing, finishing through the
12:19
Speaker 2: whistle and making our presence felt. I think, you know,
12:22
Speaker 2: we've done a great job of that as a tight
12:25
Speaker 2: end group, and we're going to continue to look to
12:27
Speaker 2: improve on it.
12:28
Speaker 1: We've talked about it before, but I know it's special
12:30
Speaker 1: to you. The Uh you came here in twenty twenty two,
12:34
Speaker 1: and not every free agent connects to a city and
12:38
Speaker 1: a franchise the way you have. You've seen guys who
12:41
Speaker 1: kind of come and go as free agents, and I
12:44
Speaker 1: guess they never really feel like part of that next team.
12:48
Speaker 1: You feel like part of this team. How how much
12:51
Speaker 1: pride do you take in that? And what does that
12:53
Speaker 1: mean to you to have sort of established yourself as
12:56
Speaker 1: a Jaguar.
13:01
Speaker 2: It definitely, I mean, it definitely means a lot. Yeah.
13:04
Speaker 2: I think earlier, earlier in my career, it was it
13:11
Speaker 2: was hard to find that. It was hard to find
13:14
Speaker 2: that piece, Like outside of football.
13:18
Speaker 1: What's tough. You're coming in as a rookie, it's New York.
13:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just got so much. You's got so many
13:22
Speaker 2: things going on, and you're young, and you're not even
13:24
Speaker 2: really looking forward. And and so once I came down here, uh,
13:29
Speaker 2: you know, trying to you know, turn the page and
13:33
Speaker 2: you know, trying to hit the one eighty on my
13:36
Speaker 2: career so far, I was able to, you know, really
13:40
Speaker 2: buy into the work that needed to be put in.
13:41
Speaker 2: I was able to buy into the culture that we
13:44
Speaker 2: established here and just and being able to do that
13:48
Speaker 2: and then have the peace and have the support outside
13:53
Speaker 2: from whether it's my community that I live in, from
13:58
Speaker 2: just every fan here, from uh, my my second family
14:04
Speaker 2: at the North Florida School Special Education, just their support
14:08
Speaker 2: for me. I was able to just hit I was
14:11
Speaker 2: able to just turn over every stone and you know,
14:15
Speaker 2: and do every put all the work in and you know,
14:17
Speaker 2: you know, be able to lock in mentally and physically
14:20
Speaker 2: at work, but then also to be able to have
14:22
Speaker 2: peace and and know I have support on the outside
14:25
Speaker 2: from you know, our supporters and our fans, so that
14:29
Speaker 2: that that honestly came really naturally. And I just I
14:33
Speaker 2: just feel that home here. My family loves it here. Uh.
14:38
Speaker 2: I got family not too far in Orlando. That's that's
14:40
Speaker 2: a big part of my life. So it just it
14:43
Speaker 2: just made sense. I'm I'm a big beach guy, so
14:46
Speaker 2: you know, living living close to the beach is just
14:50
Speaker 2: it's just amazing here. And uh, you know, obviously That's
14:54
Speaker 2: why things seasons like this are difficult because we saw
14:57
Speaker 2: what that we saw with that playoff game, and in
15:00
Speaker 2: twenty three two seasons we saw what we saw the
15:05
Speaker 2: potential that this place can get. So that's you know,
15:09
Speaker 2: that's what's disappointing about the season. But that's what you know,
15:13
Speaker 2: we'll keep feeling fuel in the tank for us to
15:15
Speaker 2: get back to and you know, bring something special to
15:18
Speaker 2: the city.
15:20
Speaker 1: Hard to believe you in your eighth year and follow
15:23
Speaker 1: up to that, how long do you see yourself playing?
15:26
Speaker 1: Where do you feel?
15:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, God willing, God willing as long as
15:32
Speaker 2: I can. I think, as long as I can, you know,
15:36
Speaker 2: I think I have a unique skill set for my position.
15:39
Speaker 2: And then you look at you know, all the great
15:41
Speaker 2: you look at all the great receiving tight ends that's
15:44
Speaker 2: been through this league. They played for us as long
15:46
Speaker 2: as they wanted to, and obviously a lot of great routines,
15:49
Speaker 2: a lot of great stuff for that they've done for
15:52
Speaker 2: their bodies and this and that, and you know, great.
15:54
Speaker 1: It's such a mental position that once you figure something
15:58
Speaker 1: like that out, you.
15:58
Speaker 2: Can, yeah, you God willing, God willing, you know, I know,
16:04
Speaker 2: continue to run the table. And and be dominant and
16:07
Speaker 2: be a reliable, reliable weapon. And yeah, I joke around,
16:14
Speaker 2: I say ten more. Okay, we'll see it's fair.
16:16
Speaker 1: I hope I have ten more. The last thing we
16:20
Speaker 1: do in here is called the O Zone five. It's
16:22
Speaker 1: five quick questions. Uh, what was your last binge watch?
16:25
Speaker 2: Last binge watch? I just finished? Uh the Penguin?
16:30
Speaker 1: Okay, good, really good.
16:31
Speaker 2: It's like a it's like a sequel from the Batman.
16:36
Speaker 2: It's one of the villains in the new Batman movie.
16:39
Speaker 2: Colin Ferrell. Great, great show. Must watch.
16:43
Speaker 1: The last song you heard on the way in this morning?
16:51
Speaker 2: I think I wrote in silent this morning, So whatever
16:55
Speaker 2: song they played. Yeah, you know I pray. I pray
16:58
Speaker 2: in the mornings. I pray out out to kind of
17:01
Speaker 2: get the motor skills going and and also you know,
17:05
Speaker 2: get the get the prayer in for the day.
17:07
Speaker 1: How has marriage changed?
17:11
Speaker 2: Honestly, that's probably the cool thing is like me and
17:15
Speaker 2: me and my wife are probably just the same. We
17:19
Speaker 2: had a crazy wedding planning season during last season, so
17:24
Speaker 2: we've been big chilling this this year, and uh we
17:27
Speaker 2: have we have a bunch of our friends are getting
17:29
Speaker 2: married this next off season. So we'll be we'll be
17:32
Speaker 2: attending some weddings as a as a married couple. So
17:36
Speaker 2: but it's been great. You know, she's been traveling and
17:40
Speaker 2: working a lot this year, but still you know, supporting
17:42
Speaker 2: me through the year and trying to get to all
17:44
Speaker 2: the games and you know, taking care of me at home.
17:47
Speaker 2: So it's been awesome. It's been a lot of fun.
17:50
Speaker 1: Best NFL moment.
17:52
Speaker 2: Best NFL moment.
18:00
Speaker 1: It's okay to say the catch against Green Bay.
18:03
Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, I gotta put that one up. Yeah, I'll
18:07
Speaker 2: put that one up there.
18:08
Speaker 1: That was Yeah, and that's one where I'm sure you
18:10
Speaker 1: watch it and you're like, how did that happen?
18:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's one like that's where you're just like in
18:17
Speaker 2: this That's one of those ones where you're just like
18:18
Speaker 2: you're just am the zone and just go up and
18:21
Speaker 2: make a great play, and you know you dream, you
18:25
Speaker 2: dream about those moments for the team. What position that
18:28
Speaker 2: put the team in, like what you know, what the
18:29
Speaker 2: type of game we were in. So yeah, I'll put
18:32
Speaker 2: that one up it that was sick.
18:34
Speaker 1: What would veteran Evan Ingram tell.
18:36
Speaker 2: Rookie man, just embrace the adversity that's coming, don't run
18:46
Speaker 2: from it, like looking in this face. See yeah, it's coming,
18:51
Speaker 2: and you know, you know, you hear it all the time.
18:53
Speaker 2: You have a bad play and you know coach puts
18:55
Speaker 2: it up on the board and you try to not
18:56
Speaker 2: watch it. You don't want to, you wanted to skip
18:58
Speaker 2: past it. Stay in his face. There are all the
19:01
Speaker 2: mistakes and the bad plays, and look at all in
19:04
Speaker 2: his face, all the drops because the answers are there
19:08
Speaker 2: and if you you find them, h it'll it'll be
19:11
Speaker 2: worth it.
19:12
Speaker 1: Evan Anger, like most Jaguars fans realize you're a class act.
19:15
Speaker 1: I appreciate you joining the ozone podcast yet again.
19:17
Speaker 2: Always enjoy it, but it's always a pleasure. I appreciate it.
19:20
Speaker 1: Thank you, man,