Tag: Mark Evans

Saints bring back undrafted rookie OL Mark Evans II to their practice squad

Here’s the offensive line depth fans asked for. The Saints brought back Mark Evans II to their practice squad, one of their highest-paid undrafted rookies:

Here’s the offensive line depth fans asked for. The New Orleans Saints brought back Mark Evans II to their practice squad, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. Evans was one of their highest-paid undrafted rookies coming out of college at Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Terron Armstead’s alma mater), but the Saints moved him inside to guard rather than his college position at left tackle. He was let go during roster cuts in August.

So he probably isn’t going to challenge anyone in the starting lineup. The Saints now have Ryan Ramczyk, Trevor Penning, and Landon Young on the 53-man roster at offensive tackle with Cesar Ruiz, James Hurst, Andrus Peat, and Nick Saldiveri at guard. Erik McCoy has been backed up by Max Garcia as the eighth active lineman on game days. Evans and Tommy Kraemer, both guards, are on the practice squad.

Saints fans have been clamoring for more help in the trenches, and for good reason. Their quarterbacks have been sacked a dozen times through the first three games and Derek Carr is currently on the mend after injuring his throwing shoulder during one of those takedowns. But it’s unrealistic to look for a big shakeup at this point in the season. Any other additions the team makes will probably look a lot like Evans: a developmental player to stash on the practice squad rather than someone ready to start a full game against NFL-quality pass rushers.

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One undrafted free agent rookie to watch for each team

Highlighting one undrafted rookie free agent for each team with a strong chance of making an impact

Teams don’t stop their pursuit of finding players who can help them once the NFL draft ends. The next step is picking and choosing the undrafted rookies and signing them as free agents, or UDFAs.

The undrafted rookies will get chances to prove themselves in upcoming rookie minicamps, OTAs and minicamp heading into the full team training camp this summer. Which ones stand strong chances to not only make the roster, but maybe even make an impact on the team?

Here is one UDFA candidate from each of the 32 teams who stands out as a player with a good chance to stick on the roster.

Lions 7-round mock draft, spring break edition

The latest 2023 NFL draft projections for the Detroit Lions from Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon

For millions of Americans, this week is spring break. It’s a time for families to get away and spend quality time together, or for college-age folks to live it up.

For some college student-athletes, it’s still time to work. The NFL draft is coming up quickly, and the prospects hoping to get selected are still doing everything they can to help their draft stock.

A select few of those prospects will become Detroit Lions. Here’s the latest projection of who those players could be when the draft takes place later this month.

2023 Lions mock draft: Post-free agent kickoff edition

Note: this is a projection of what the Lions might do with their picks, not a reflection of the choices I would make in the same situation. The “what I would do” mock draft comes closer to the draft. No trades in this one.