[jwplayer 6Jy2vdza-ThvAeFxT]
With 69 rushing yards tonight on #SNF, @A_kamara6 would become the first player in NFL history with at least 500 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in each of his first four seasons.@Saints | #NOvsTB | #Saints pic.twitter.com/umoa6Kh5kJ
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) November 9, 2020
Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Alvin Kamara is close to making NFL history. The New Orleans Saints star running back is 69 rushing yards away from becoming the first player in league history to record 500-plus yards as both a runner and receiver in each of his first four seasons as a pro. Once he clears that bar, it will be just further proof that players as versatile as he is are few and far between.
Kamara surpassed that benchmark in each of his first three seasons, though it was a near thing in 2019. His injury-shortened campaign saw him rack up a career-low 533 receiving yards, which he has already improved upon in 2020 (with 556 receiving yards in just 8 games). Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Herschel Walker and the great Abner Haynes each climbed the mountain in their first three years (as did Kamara), but neither of them were able to keep it going through year four.
We’ll see soon if Kamara can pull it off against Tampa Bay. Their stingy run defense held him to just 16 rushing yards back in Week 1, but he still scored a pair of touchdowns and gained 51 yards as a receiver. Whether Kamara gets another footnote in the history books this week or not, he’ll still be keeping the Buccaneers on the defensive — and putting more than a little bit of fear into Bucs coach Bruce Arians.
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