Saints trade up in the draft to select Jahri Evans
In 2006, the first draft the Sean Payton was present for as the head coach in New Orleans, the team would trade their fourth-round pick to Philadelphia and received Hollis Thomas and a later fourth-round pick.
That “later fourth-round pick” would turn out to be Jahri Evans. Evans was drafted out of the University of Bloomsburg, and an offensive guard was desperately needed. Being on the line, he wasn’t nearly as recognized as he should have been.
He would go on to play 11 seasons with the New Orleans Saints. In those 11 years, Evans would start all 169 games that he ever appeared in. He also started in 169 out of 176 possible games over the 11-year span — talk about durability.
Evans acquired six straight Pro Bowl nominations to go along with four straight first-team All-Pro selections. He would end up going down as one of the greatest Saints’ to ever play for the franchise ever.