A computing system comprises a programmable network interface card and a host comprising a memory and a transport handler. The programmable network interface card may process a frame received over a network, and determine whether packet data included in the frame is to be directly placed in a first region in a memory. The programmable network interface may comprise a network direct memory access engine (NDE), which may cause transfer of the packet data directly to the first region in the memory if the packet data is to be directly placed into the first region in the memory. The programmable network interface card may cause transfer of the packet data to the transport handler in response to determining that the packet data is not to be directly placed in the first region in the memory.