Guard Jahri Evans appears to have survived the New Orleans Saints' flurry of trades, releases and pay cuts as they reshaped their roster and their salary cap over the past month.
General manager Mickey Loomis gave a short but sweet vote of confidence when asked Monday if Evans is going to be back in 2015.
"Yeah. Jahri's on our roster and on our team, yes," Loomis said.
Today should provide even more concrete evidence.
Evans is due a $500,000 roster bonus today -- which is only a small portion of the $7.5 million he's due in salary and bonuses this year. But paying the bonus will be a pretty good indication of the Saints' intentions.
Evans, 31, was considered as a possible candidate for one of those salary-saving measures this offseason because of his lofty price tag and the fact that the six-time Pro Bowler has shown signs of regression in recent years. But it seemed unlikely that the Saints would replace both Evans and former Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs in the same offseason -- and the Saints traded Grubbs to the Kansas City Chiefs for a fifth-round draft pick after Grubbs reportedly declined to accept a pay cut.
Loomis said Monday while speaking at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix that third-year backup Tim Lelito is the current front-runner to replace Grubbs in the starting lineup -- though he'll have to earn it.
"We're gonna have a competition for that left guard spot. And I would say coming into camp that (Lelito) is probably the leader. But we'll say what else happens this offseason," Loomis said of Lelito, a former undrafted free agent who has started games at guard and center as an injury replacement over the past two years. "He's got some versatility, Tim does. That's a good find for us, a great job by our scouts and our coaches and our offensive line coach to develop Tim. And so we feel confident that he can play both guard and center. And we'll just see how it plays out during training camp."
Loomis didn't expand much when asked about the decisions to trade Grubbs and release veteran linebacker Curtis Lofton -- both of whom were due roughly $7 million in salary and bonuses this year.
"Like anything else, there's lots of variables involved," Loomis said. "Both of those guys were good players for us and did a lot of really good things and have tread on the tires, both of 'em. And yet when you look at your team and that construction of the cap and just every variable on your team, you've got to do some things. All so all those pieces were involved in those decisions."