This is good to see: Nola.com’s Luke Johnson reports that the New Orleans Saints are adding Jahri Evans to their coaching staff, where Evans will assist offensive line coach Doug Marrone. Evans replaces Zach Strief, who he played next to for most of his 11 years in New Orleans; Strief left for a promotion on Sean Payton’s rebuilding Denver Broncos staff earlier this offseason.
Interestingly, the Saints previously hired former Los Angeles rams offensive line coach Kevin Carberry for the same assistant position working with Marrone. So we’ll see exactly how those day-to-day responsibilities shake out.
Evans first joined the Saints as a coaching intern for training camp last summer, working closely with former first-round draft pick Cesar Ruiz. Ruiz ended up playing his best football of his NFL career, so maybe having an All-Pro right guard advising him is going to be good for his continued development.
When he isn’t busy coaching the next generation of Saints players, Evans will be keeping an eye on his Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy. He made it to the semifinalist stage in his first year of eligibility, and he’ll be drawing heavy consideration again when voters reconvene later this year. The former Division II prospect out of Bloomsburg in Pennsylvania won a Super Bowl with New Orleans and earned a ton of accolades as a player, including five All-Pro team placements and six Pro Bowl nods. That experience has done a lot to help him start the next chapter in his football life as a coach.
