In the NFL today, wide receivers are considered the “drama queens” of the league. They are always complaining about getting the ball and about

pass interference, and take advantage of any possible time to showboat. Whether it’s Terrell Owens and Randy Moss wearing sunglasses in press conferences, or Keyshawn Johnson writing a book entitled Just Give me the Damn Ball.

Being a receiver myself, I know first hand that it’s in a receiver’s DNA to want to make the big play and be the hero. However to be a successful receiver, you don’t have to do a river dance or Crank Dat Soulja Boy after you score; you just have to catch the football.

No one epitomizes what a receiver should be in Seattle or maybe even in the entire league better than Seattle Seahawks receiver Bobby Engram. He just completed his 7th year with the Seahawks and 12th year overall in his career.

His on-the-field successes are very evident, as this season he set a Seahawks franchise record with 94 receptions. He also gained 1,147 yards receiving and six touchdowns. Throughout a season in which the injury bug struck the Seahawks receiving core badly, leaving Deion Branch and D.J. Hackett sidelined for many games, Engram was always there doing his job, and putting the team in a position to win. And in previous years when the Seahawks receivers became well known for dropping the football, Engram, except for a slip of the mind vs. St. Louis in January of 2005, has been the most sure handed of all.

However it wasn’t just his successes on the field that made Engram a role model for the league, it was the way in which he conducted himself. He isn’t one of the fastest or most athletic guys in the league, but he is one of the classiest. Whenever he catches a first down-which has been many times in the past few years-he sets the ball down, slaps high five to not only his fellow receivers but also to his offensive line as well, and gets back into the huddle. He doesn’t get down on one knee and point for a first down, or talk trash to the opposing defender.

The same thing goes for when he scores a touchdown as well. Yes, it is true that back in the “sprinkler” days of the team, Engram would be found performing the dance with his teammates, but not until after he congratulated them first. Now he makes sure to slap five with everyone, and if he does celebrate, it is always with teammates, never just by himself. He has a respect for the game and understands what it means to “act like you’ve been there before.”

Engram also sets an example for the league because of his perseverance. In early October of 2006, Engram experienced an accelerated heartbeat, and extreme fatigue. It became learned that the symptoms were caused by Graves’ disease, a virus in which antibodies used to fight it end up attacking the body itself, causing extreme pain in the thyroid. The disease caused Engram to miss nine games, and he was far from 100 percent the few games he was active for late in the 2006-07 season.

However after hard off-season work, Engram came into the 2007-08 season healthy, and ready to go. Before the season started he was called the most reliable target by quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and the “glue of the team” by running back and 2005 NFL MVP Shaun Alexander. Engram went on to have his best season ever at 34 years old (now 35), and set the Seahawks single season reception record. There aren’t many athletes in the world who would have been able to persevere like Engram did and have a career season.

Engram is not only admirable on the field, but off it as well. He has not only suffered great pain on the field, but also in his family, as his eight year-old daughter has a rare form of sickle-cell anemia, a disease that inflicts excruciating pain worse than anything felt on a football field. As well as being a loving father, Engram has hosted and participated in the “Walk For Sickle Cell Disease” for the past two years. He continues to try and spread awareness of the disease today, in hopes in finding a cure.

From his on the field class to his comeback from Graves’ disease to his charity work, not even to mention 12 years in the rough and tough NFL, Bobby Engram is what a true wide receiver and professional athlete should be. Most likely nearing retirement, the Seahawks and the city of Seattle should recognize how lucky they are to have had a man like Engram, because they don’t come around too often.