Bobby Engram

Simon J. "Bobby" Engram III (born January 7, 1973) is a retired American football wide receiver and current wide receivers coach for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State.

Engram has also played for the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns.

Early years
Engram attended Camden High School in Camden, South Carolina, where he was a three-time All-State selection at wide receiver.

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' favorite target. He garnered All-American honors and won the first-ever Biletnikoff Award, recognizing the nation's best wide receiver. Engram was the Nittany Lions' career receptions leader until 2008, when Deon Butler 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 as punishment from head-coach Joe Paterno, when he was charged with being involved in a college apartment burglary with teammate Ricky Sayles. Sayles and Engram went into an apartment and removed a stereo. However, the police investigation revealed that Sayles was the mastermind behind the burglary and Engram may have been led to believe that he and Sayles were authorized to take the stereo. Consequently, Engram was allowed to complete a pre-trial diversionary program and the charges were later dropped. Sayles, on the other hand, was permanently dismissed from the team.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in exercise science from Penn State in 1995.

Chicago Bears
Engram was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1996 NFL Draft, 52nd overall to the Chicago Bears. In his rookie season, he had 33 receptions for 389 yards and 6 touchdown passes. He also returned kicks. Engram spent 5 seasons with the Bears.

Seattle Seahawks
Engram signed with the Seattle Seahawks 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 is a Seahawks single-season record, and he led the team in catches during the team's Super Bowl season in 2005 with 67.

Engram was named to the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary Team in May 2011.

Kansas City Chiefs
Engram joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, but only played in 5 games for the team.

Cleveland Browns
Engram signed with the Cleveland Browns 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.

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

Personal
Engram and his wife Deanna have four children: daughters, Bobbi and Phoebe, and sons, Dean and Trey. Bobbi was born with the hereditary sickle-cell disease. Engram hosted the "Walk for Sickle Cell Disease" in Seattle in September 2006. In October 2006, Engram was diagnosed with Graves' disease. His subsequent accelerated heart rate, debilitating fatigue, and weight loss caused him to miss a significant amount of playing time during the 2006 season.

Engram was the subject of a November 2008 NFL Network segment profiling his participation in The Home Depot's NFL Neighborhood MVP program. Engram joined a group of volunteers from the non-profit organizations KaBOOM! and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to install a new playground on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington.

When playing games in the Pennsylvania cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Engram laced his shoes with white shoelaces as opposed to the regular black as a tribute to the old-school beliefs of his college coach, Joe Paterno.

He currently lives in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.