Bryan Heath Evans (born December 30, 1978) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

and former analyst on NFL Network. After playing

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at Auburn he was drafted by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

in the third round of the

2001 NFL Draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

. He also played for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

, the last of which he won a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

with while on injured reserve. Evans retired after the 2010 season and was formerly an analyst with

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...

Early years

While attending The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Evans lettered in football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. In football, he was a two-time All-State selection as a tailback. During a game his junior year, Heath was once tackled in the backfield by

Tom Segura Thomas Weston Segura (born April 16, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, author, actor, and podcaster. Segura co-hosts the ''Your Mom's House'' podcast with his wife and fellow comedian Christina Pazsitzky. Segura also co-hosts the ...

.Heath Evans biography
Patriots.com. Accessed July 9, 2007.

College career

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) * List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska * Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans Cit ...

attended

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest ...

. In football, he finished his three-year career with 149 rushing attempts for 626 yards (4.2 yards per rush) and six touchdowns, and 30 receptions for 354 yards (11.8 yards per reception) and a touchdown.

Professional career

Seattle Seahawks

Evans was the first fullback taken in the

, with the Seahawks selecting him in the third round (82nd overall). Evans spent four years in Seattle blocking for

Shaun Alexander Shaun Edward Alexander (born August 30, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the ...

Miami Dolphins

Evans signed with the

in the spring of 2005. While in Miami, Evans was re-united with former Auburn tailback

Ronnie Brown Ronnie G. Brown Jr. (born December 12, 1981) is a former American football running back. After graduating from Cartersville High School in Georgia, Brown attended Auburn University to play college football for the Auburn Tigers. He and Cadill ...

(with whom he was a teammate in 2000), but was cut six weeks into the season.

New England Patriots

One week later, the

signed Evans for the remainder of the 2005 season. On November 16, he filled in for an injured

Corey Dillon Corey James Dillon (born October 24, 1974) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots. Dillon played college football at Washing ...

at tailback against his former team and rushed for 84 yards on 17 carries and caught 3 passes for 18 yards, subsequently leading the Patriots to victory. On March 23,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, the Patriots re-signed Evans as an unrestricted free agent to another one-year contract. During the 2006 season, Evans ran for 117 yards on 27 carries. He also caught 7 passes for 34 yards. In week 5 against the Dolphins, Evans scored his first career touchdown on a 1-yard reception from

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

. Two weeks later against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, Evans recorded his career long carry of 35 yards. Against the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

, Evans recorded 3 special team tackles in the Patriots' 24-21 upset. Evans caught 4 passes in the

AFC Championship The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

loss to the Colts. On February 24,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

, the Patriots announced that Evans signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him off the free agent market. During the pre-season, in a Week 3 scrimmage against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

, Evans rushed for 58 yards on 7 carries with 1 touchdown and caught 2 receptions for 19 yards and a score. His touchdown run was of 2 yards and his touchdown reception was of 8 yards. In total, he had 77 yards of total offense on 9 touches with 2 touchdowns. Evans rushed for a 2-yard touchdown against the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

in a 38-14 victory in the opening game of the 2007 season.

New Orleans Saints

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

in the 2009 offseason, Evans was signed by the

on March 5. Upon the signing, the team released incumbent fullback

Mike Karney Michael John Mario Karney (born July 6, 1981) is a former American football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for Arizona State University. He was drafted by the New O ...

. Evans played in the Saints' first six games (5 att, 16yds, 1 touchdown), but he suffered a season-ending knee injury in their October 25 game against the

and was placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. While Evans was on injured reserve, the Saints went on to beat the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

, earning Evans his only Super Bowl ring.

Retirement

On August 24, 2011, Evans announced via Twitter that he had decided to retire from the NFL after 10 seasons, agreeing to a multi-year contract to become an analyst for the

Broadcasting career

Evans was an analyst on

and joined the NFL on Fox as a game analyst in 2012 with Sam Rosen. On December 12, 2017, Evans, along with

Marshall Faulk Marshall William Faulk (born February 26, 1973) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. He is widely regarded as one of the gre ...

and

Ike Taylor Ivan "Ike" Taylor (born May 5, 1980) is a former American football cornerback. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft, and spent his entire 12-year career in Pi ...

, was suspended from the NFL Network after sexual harassment accusations against them were made. On August 9, 2018, Evans released a statement that he was fired from the NFL Network after refusing to sign a "silencing agreement."

Personal

Evans has two daughters, Ava and Naomi; they reside in Manhattan Beach, CA. In September 2017, Evans launched an Athletic Performance Coaching and Fitness Apparel website. He married Christine Carter on August 21, 2020.

References

External links

*
New England Patriots bioNew Orleans Saints bio

NFL Network bioHeath Evans TwitterHeath Evans Instagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Heath 1978 births Living people American football fullbacks Auburn Tigers football players Miami Dolphins players National Football League announcers New England Patriots players New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from Florida Seattle Seahawks players Sportspeople from West Palm Beach, Florida Ed Block Courage Award recipients