Simon J. "Bobby" Engram III (born January 7, 1973) is a retired

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in the second round of the

1996 NFL Draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 20–21, 1996, at the Paramount ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

. Engram also played for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

Early years

Engram was born to Simon and Dorothy Engram. He attended Camden High School in Camden, South Carolina, where he was a three-time All-State selection at wide receiver. In 1991, Engram's father died in an automobile accident.

College career

As a college junior, Engram was the go-to receiver on Penn State's undefeated 1994 team. Wearing #10, he was quarterback

Kerry Collins Kerry Michael Collins (born December 30, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. Collins was a member of six NFL teams, most notably the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, ...

' favorite target. He garnered

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honors and won the first-ever

Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

, recognizing the nation's best wide receiver. Engram was the Nittany Lions' career receptions leader until 2008, when

Deon Butler Vincent Deon Butler (born January 4, 1986) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State. College career After redshirti ...

passed his mark of 167. He is still the all-time leader in yards and touchdowns with 3,026 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also racked up 786 career punt return yards for the Nittany Lions, ranking him second in school history. Engram missed the 1992 season. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in exercise science from Penn State in 1995.

NFL career

Chicago Bears

Engram was drafted in the 2nd round of the

, 52nd overall to the

. In his rookie season, he had 33 receptions for 389 yards and 6 touchdown catches. He also returned kicks. In 1999, he had his first 10-reception game in week 15 with 10 receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown, following this with a franchise-record 13 receptions 143 yards and two touchdowns.Bobby Engram game log
/ref> The following season, he had just 16 receptions in three games before injury ended his 5 seasons with the Bears.

Seattle Seahawks

Engram signed with the

before the 2001 season. He would spend 8 seasons with the Seahawks and reached the 1,000-yard receiving threshold in 2007 (94 catches, 1,147 yards), which was the only 1,000-yard season of his career. Despite being a starter in only 67 of the 109 games he played with Seattle, Engram ranks fifth in franchise history in receptions (399) and fourth in receiving yards (4,859). His 94 receptions in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

was a Seahawks single-season record (since surpassed by Tyler Lockett), and he led the team in catches during the team's

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

season in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

with 67. Engram was named to the Seahawks' 35th Anniversary Team in May 2011.

Kansas City Chiefs

Engram joined the

in 2009, but only played in 5 games for the team.

Cleveland Browns

Engram signed with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

in the 2010 preseason, but failed to make the roster and was released before the regular season began.

Retirement, coaching career

On January 28, 2011, Engram announced that he had retired from the NFL as a player, but that he had accepted a job as an offensive assistant coach for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. In 2012, it was announced that Engram would become the wide receivers coach for the

Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

. On February 6, 2014, the Ravens announced Engram as their new wide receivers coach. On January 11, 2018, the Ravens announced Engram as their tight ends coach. On January 29, 2022, it was announced Engram was hired as the offensive coordinator for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

under head coach

Paul Chryst Paul Joseph Chryst (born November 17, 1965) is a former American football head coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach for the Wisconsin Badgers. Chryst was the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012 to ...

Personal life

Engram and his wife Deanna have four children, one of whom was born with

sickle-cell disease Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...

and died in 2018. In October 2006, Engram was diagnosed with

Graves' disease Graves' disease (german: Morbus Basedow), also known as toxic diffuse goiter, is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. It frequently results in and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It also often results in an enlarged thyr ...

. His subsequent accelerated heart rate, debilitating fatigue, and weight loss caused him to miss a significant amount of playing time during the 2006 season. When playing games in the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

cities of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Engram laced his shoes with white

shoelaces Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots, and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both end ...

as opposed to the regular black as a tribute to the old-school beliefs of his college coach,

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

."Healthy Engram plans to keep playing"
, ''

The Patriot-News ''The Patriot-News'' is the largest newspaper serving the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area. In 2005, the newspaper was ranked in the top 100 in daily and Sunday circulation in the United States. It has been owned by Advance Publicati ...

'', October 10, 2007

References

External links

Kansas City Chiefs bioSeattle Seahawks bioHired by 49ers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engram, Bobby 1973 births Living people Baltimore Ravens coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches Players of American football from South Carolina People from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania American football wide receivers Penn State Nittany Lions football players Chicago Bears players Seattle Seahawks players Kansas City Chiefs players Cleveland Browns players San Francisco 49ers coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Ed Block Courage Award recipients Wisconsin Badgers football coaches