This past week the 49ers rolled out their third "Coach 'Em Up" video, this time focusing in on offensive assistant Bobby Engram. The first video took a look at quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst and the second video focused on secondary coach Ed Donatell. The videos are interesting, but there is more information in the accompanying write-up about the coach.
Over the course of 14 seasons, wide receiver Bobby Engram quietly put together an incredibly solid resume, finishing his career with 650 receptions for 7,751 yards and 35 touchdowns. I don't recall him ever being a true number one wide receiver, but he was always a solid complementary option. Now that he is retired from playing, he is attempting to begin his coaching career with his first stop coming as a member of Jim Harbaugh's coaching staff.
I haven't looked at all the coaches in sports history, but it often seems like good coaches were not always the superstars in the league. There have been very good players who turned into very good coaches (a non-football example would be Joe Torre who was a nine-time All Star), but it often seems like the average or mediocre players turn into better coaches. Engram wasn't a mediocre player or a superstar, but would seem to fall somewhere in the middle.
Engram is on the staff as an offensive assistant under Harbaugh. It remains to be seen what exactly he'll be doing, although I'd have to imagine he'll work with the wide receivers in some capacity. John Morton is the official wide receiver coach, but given Engram's career I can't imagine he won't have some impact on the receivers.
Earlier this week I asked whether the 49ers needed a veteran wide receiver to pair with Michael Crabtree and 9thevolution was the first to bring up Engram. Given the lack of work between the players and coaches thus far I had completely forgotten about Engram, so it's a good coincidence that the 49ers rolled out this video. If Engram will in fact be working with receivers in some capacity, he could hopefully provide some useful mentoring to the younger receivers. We'll see what kind of coach he turns into.