Jacksonville Jaguars A Jacksonville Jaguars’ helmet.

Earlier this offseason, the Jacksonville Jaguars made it clear that they want to keep tight end Evan Engram, placing a franchise on the veteran player last month. But it’s now clear that they have long-term plans for Engram.

During a press conference this week, Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke was asked about the status of Engram and he revealed quite an optimistic view of the team’s plans for Engram, saying that the team is “trending” toward a long-term deal for the veteran tight end.

“There’s up and downs as you go through the process and you’re just trying to come to — a common goal here is to get him signed. I think we’re trending that direction, but we’re not there yet,” Baalke said according to Pro Football Talk. “We’ll continue to work to get him signed to a long-term extension and hopefully we can get that done.”

Engram is set to make $11.345 million under the terms of the franchise tag if the team and Engram are not able to come to a long-term deal. But the two sides have until July 17 to work out a contract extension that would lock him up with the team for the foreseeable future.

We’ll have to see if they can get a deal done.

[Pro Football Talk]