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New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan had an eventful summer. He collaborated with his former teammate Mark Ingram on their new “Truss Levelz” podcast from The Players Tribune, and their first guest is an old friend: Alvin Kamara.
The trio held a wide-ranging discussion on Kamara’s college career (which started with plenty of friction with Nick Saban, who put Kamara into a “timeout box” during Alabama practices), his rare success with the Saints, their favorite New Orleans restaurants, and Kamara’s viral offseason workouts and semi-vegan diet.
Saints slot receiver Austin Carr also caught some strays for his poor fashion sense, which Jordan wrote off as him being a Northwestern grad and young father. It’s a treat.
You should be advised that the podcast features explicit language, so maybe don’t fire it up when the kids are in the car.
However, the most interesting story was Kamara’s reflection on his 2019 injuries — plural. After spraining his ankle in practice before a game with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Kamara initially tried to roll with it, but his cleats caught in the turf and he ended up being buried beneath a pile of other players. Saints doctors helped him off the field for further evaluation.
Kamara recounted his experience in the blue medical tent: “So [Director of Sports Medicine Beau Lowery], you know Beau’s like, ‘A.K., what do you want to do?’ So I tell him to tape me up, I’m good. I’m gonna play smart. Tape it. I’ll just get through this game, get the MRI, and on Monday we’ll figure it out.”
The Saints won 13-6, with Kamara running 11 times to gain 31 yards while catching 7 of 8 targets for another 35 yard. He and Jordan agreed it was an ugly game, but he doesn’t regret going back into it.
“I’m happy I played that game, because I had a feeling it was going to be close. It was closer than it should’ve been. But not to say if I wasn’t injured it would’ve turned out different. I’m happy that I did play so we don’t have to know,” Kamara said.
Kamara added that he spoke with Lowery after the MRI results returned, showing a Grade 2 tear on his MCL. And the timeline wasn’t promising: an 8-month recovery, with rest being the only real cure. Instead, he sat out two weeks before returning, gutting out the pain and frustrations of playing on such a severe injury.
“The locker room knows what I went through,” Kamara continued. “Same thing, Terron [Armstead] every play, after every drive, would check with me and ask if I’m good. He’d rock with me. Same thing with Drew [Brees]. And I’m like, ‘Man, I’m trying.'”
But he’s healthy now, and already reaping the rewards. Kamara has been the Saints’ best player through two weeks with 241 yards from scrimmage and four combined touchdowns scored. He’s poised for another prime-time performance against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.
So maybe he’ll get to reflect on it if Jordan’s podcast gets renewed for another season. Listen to the full episode if you haven’t already.
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