Jahri Evans: A Philly Saint

This story has been corrected. Monday's editions of the Daily News erroneously stated that Carl Nicks signed with San Francisco last offseason. He signed with Tampa Bay.

NEW ORLEANS - When he thinks about it now, Saints guard Jahri Evans doesn't wonder what could have been. With one decision 6 years ago, the Eagles launched the Frankford High product on the ride of a lifetime.

Rewind to April 30, 2006 - the second day of the NFL draft. New Orleans held the second pick of the fourth round, the first round that day.

Anxiously waiting in his agent Jerrold Colton's office in Voorhees, N.J., the Evans contingent received word that the Saints were likely to nab him with that pick.

And then the Eagles called. Knowing that the Saints were also in the market for a guard, Eagles general manager Tom Heckert wanted to make a move. The Birds sent their own fourth-round pick and defensive tackle Hollis Thomas to New Orleans for the right to move up nine spots.

The Eagles needed a guard but saw too many question marks in Evans. The 6-4 Nicetown native played tackle at Division II Bloomsburg and would need to transition to guard. Besides, then-offensive line coach Juan Castillo reportedly wasn't high on what he saw from Evans in predraft workouts.

The Eagles took the safer route and drafted Georgia guard Max Jean-Gilles with the 99th pick.

Nine picks later, the Saints scooped up Evans at the urging of scout Jim Monos, also a Philadelphia native who worked for the Eagles from 2000-04.

Jean-Gilles has been out of football for more than a year. Evans, now 29, has started 103 straight games for the Saints - every one since draft day - good for the eighth-longest active streak in the NFL.

Evans went to his third straight Pro Bowl last January. He signed a 7-year, $56.7 million deal in 2010 that made him the highest-paid interior offensive lineman in league history. And he won a Super Bowl ring in 2009.

On Monday night, Evans will remind the Eagles of their mistake for the fifth time in his career in a Superdome filled with family and friends.

"I am surrounded by people who are Eagles fans but have agreed to be Saints fans for 1 day," Evans said from his home on Sunday. "Honestly, I don't blame the Eagles for not drafting me. Talking to the scouts, I knew they had a hard time judging me. I was coming from a small school. There weren't any guards drafted in the first three rounds.

"I was just happy to be picked up, period."

Getting selected by the Saints in 2006 wasn't exactly the prize that it would now be considered. New Orleans and its football franchise were in ruins after Hurricane Katrina. The Saints went 3-13 in 2005, splitting their home games between San Antonio, Baton Rouge and even Giants Stadium.

Evans arrived at the same time as Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton to help begin the turnaround.

In another strange Philadelphia connection, Evans only won his starting spot as a rookie because former Eagle Jermane Mayberry went down with an injury in training camp that ultimately forced him to retire.

Evans took the league by storm. Many consider him to be the Saints' second-most valuable player after Brees on offense, where he is utilized in ways no other teams mobilize their guards. In fact, Pro-Football-Reference.com's approximate value rated him the Saints' most valuable player - more than Brees, Marques Colston, Jonathan Vilma - in both 2009 and 2010.

Since 2008, Evans has the second-best pass-block efficiency rating (97.4 percent) among guards, which measures the ability to defend against sacks, hurries, and hits to the quarterback, according to ProFootballFocus.com. He's been beaten for a sack an incredible 11 times on 2,916 passing plays since 2008.

Evans' former teammate, Carl Nicks, signed with Tampa Bay last offseason - the All-Pro actually broke Evans' record as highest-paid guard - but Evans' play has not declined. He's kept Brees clean, having not allowed a sack, on a 2-5 Saints team that has struggled.

Brees is grateful. The Super Bowl MVP joins Evans and the rest of the Saints' offensive line for dinner weekly on Thursday nights.

"I've been blessed to be able to soak everything up," Evans said. "It's awesome to play with Drew. He is an amazing person and quarterback. You always hear stories about people, about how good they are and how good of a person they are. I've gotten to see it myself. He does things most other quarterbacks won't do.

"I've never played for another quarterback in the NFL and I can't compare him to anyone else, but I'm not sure I would want to."

Evans lives in the New Orleans area during the season, but has remained true to his Philly roots. He recently purchased an Old City condo that belonged to Flyers forward Scott Hartnell. He lives and trains in Philly during the offseason and is actively involved in the community.

Evans runs football camps, donates equipment and funds college scholarships for less-fortunate, inner-city football players.

"I know what it's like, I was one of those kids," Evans explained. "I was actually a participant in the Eagles' Achievement Week during the beginning of Coach Reid's tenure. I have a picture with him from when I was in high school."

Evans was on the Eagles' radar, yet they saw him as a project. He had never played football before Frankford and broke his ankle before his senior season, leaving an academic scholarship at Bloomsburg as his only offer.

Jean-Gilles, on the other hand, was highly touted and played under the bright lights in Georgia.

The Eagles were still the NFL's "gold standard" in 2006. The only thing golden about the Saints then was the gold on their uniforms. To compare the divergent roads, between draft picks and franchises, is astounding in contrast.

Given the Eagles' perpetual offensive line struggles, nabbing a Pro Bowl anchor from Frankford would have been a storybook only Hollywood could write. Hindsight, unfortunately, does not provide an opportunity to change what's been done.

"It's a great feeling to go up against the Eagles, a team that I idolized growing up," Evans said. "But I ended up in the right place."