A day after the Eagles lost C.J. Gardner-Johnson in free agency to the Detroit Lions, they’ve added a different safety.
The Eagles are signing veteran Justin Evans, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia. NFL Network first reported the signing on Monday evening.
The Eagles are bringing Evans in for depth at the position after losing Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps in free agency. He’ll be competing for a roster spot at training camp this summer. Don’t expect him to be the Eagles’ replacement for Gardner-Johnson; more moves are likely coming.
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The top incumbent safeties on the Eagles roster are Reed Blankenship and K’Von Wallace.
Evans, 27, was a second-round pick by the Bucs out of Texas A&M back in 2016 but was most recently with the Saints in 2022. With the Saints last season, Evans played in 15 games and started four.
Last season was Evans’ return to the NFL after he didn’t play at all in 2019, 2020 or 2021 as he recovered from injuries, including ones to his Achilles and toe. Evans spent the 2019 season on IR and the 2020 season on PUP. He was out of football in 2021.
Evans spent the first two seasons of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2017 and 2018, he played in 24 games with 21 starts. He had 4 interceptions and 125 tackles in those two seasons before injuries began to derail his career.
NFL
But last year he was able to get back on the field on defense for the Saints and also chipped in 113 special teams snaps. This appears to be the Eagles’ taking a flyer on a player who once seemed to have a promising career ahead of him.
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