New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Saints' Evans reflects on season, charity while rehabbing at Andrews

Heath Evans could have rehabilitated his injured knee anywhere

The New Orleans Saints fullback didn’t have to worry about costs or location. He just wanted the best.

So after Dr. James Andrews performed an October surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, Evans chose the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze.

“The experience has been great,” Evans said. “(Dr. Andrews) only surrounds himself with the best. The training facilities and the training staff have been great. Everything they do has been detail oriented, and as a professional athlete, that’s what you want. You want someone dotting every “I” and crossing every “T.”

Evans has made a habit of being around the best in his profession. During his four seasons in New England, the Patriots made the playoffs three times, including a perfect regular season in 2007 that ended with a loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

In his first season in New Orleans, the Saints won their first Super Bowl title.

“Everything starts with great leadership,” Evans said. “Both (New Orleans and New England) had it. We’re still trying to add more great leadership to our group in New Orleans. If we can do that, hopefully we can go add a few more championship trophies to the case.”

At 250 pounds, Evans is not a prototypical receiver, coming out of the backfield, but the former Auburn University standout found his niche in the Saints’ passing game last season.

Evans had twice as many receptions out of the backfield as he had carries in 2009. His 10 catches (in only six games) tied was four short of his career high, and two of those catches ended with Evans in the end zone. The 10-year veteran had only one touchdown reception in his career entering the season.

“It was fun,” Evans said of getting to get out in space. “Just being a part of an offense as explosive as ours and has the potential to score anywhere on the field was great. What I was most proud of, though, was what we were doing running the ball early on in the year. That’s why I’m working hard (at Andrews Insititute) and trying to get healthy.”