Report: Seahawks looking at veteran guard Jahri Evans
Published 2:50 pm Thursday, August 4, 2016
The following was tweeted by the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Thursday afternoon:
#Seahawks are bringing in veteran G Jahri Evans, formerly of the #Saints, for a visit tomorrow, source said. They need to solidify their OL
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 4, 2016
Jahri Evans is a 10-year NFL veteran who spent all of those 10 years with the New Orleans Saints. He is a six-time Pro Bowler, making it every year from 2009 to 2014. Evans missed five games last season because of nagging injuries to his knee and ankle, and he was released by the Saints in February as a salary-cap casualty.
If true, this is an interesting move by the Seahawks. Evans (6-foot-4, 316 pounds) is a right guard, and the player currently occupying the right-guard position is rookie first-round draft pick Germain Ifedi. Ifedi has been one of the most visible players in training camp so far because of his refusal to back down in multiple physical confrontations with Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Bennett, and the coaching staff has had nothing but positive reviews of Ifedi’s performance so far.
On the other hand, right tackle J’Marcus Webb missed almost all of OTAs and minicamp because of a calf injury, and on Tuesday offensive line coach Tom Cable said the following about Webb:
“[I’ve seen] a guy that looks like he didn’t do hardly anything in the spring. Mentally he’s catching up very well. So for him, the challenge is our system and tempo of play is different. He’s been at one extreme, we’re at the other end, so he has to learn to play this fast and aggressive and all that. Most big guys, that’s not the way this league is. So it’s a learning curve for him.”
Ifedi played some right tackle in college at Texas A&M, and when initially drafted by the Seahawks he was listed as a tackle. Could the interest in Evans be a result of concerns about Webb?
Stay tuned.
