One of the most notable moves the Jacksonville Jaguars made in the offseason was cutting ties with Evan Engram, along with other players the past regime brought him.
Freeing up cap space was one of the reasons the Jags pulled the trigger, but having Brenton Strange in the fold also played a role. Against the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, he validated the Jags' decision.
Brenton Strange had a strong start vs. the Panthers in Week 1
Right off the bat in the opening drive of the Panthers game, Strange hauled in three receptions for 49 yards. The Jags ended up putting together a 13-play, 55-yard drive that ended with Cam Little kicking a field goal to put his team up 3-0. All things considered, that's a pretty good statline, especially when you take into account that Brian Thomas Jr. had no catches on two targets. On the other hand, Travis Hunter had a solid two receptions for 20 yards.
Sure, Strange didn't have any catches in the Jags' next drive, but that doesn't anything away from him.
A second-round pick in the 2023 draft, Strange was a non-factor as a rookie but showed notable improvement when he filled in Engram last year, reeling in 40 receptions for 411 yards with two touchdowns.
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Brenton Strange is proving the Jaguars made the rigth call with Evan Engram
With Evan Engram gone, the former Brenton Strange became TE1, a role he gladly embraced. Leaving aside that he made strides in 2024, there's another reason the Jaguars felt comfortable rolling with him. The former Nittany State Lion was a much better fit in Liam Coen's scheme, which asks its tight ends to block.
And while Engram is a pretty good pass catcher, he's not that great of a blocker. Meanwhile, Strange thrives in that area of the game. In fact, he says he wants to impose his will on every block and bring in an element of physicality.
Granted, there's still plenty of football left in the regular season, and there's a chance Brenton Strange won't be nearly as dominant in other games. That said, he's got off to a strong start and quickly validated the team's trust in him.
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