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It appears the New Orleans Saints won’t be putting their best player on the field in Monday night’s preseason game with the Jacksonville Jaguars. ESPN’s Lisa Salters said on NFL Live that four-time Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara will not play in the exhibition game, via NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, though Saints coach Sean Payton recently said he expects several starters who observed the first preseason matchup to participate. Evidently he was only referring to bookend tackles Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk.
Missing Kamara does lower the entertainment value for fans in attendance at Caesars Superdome, but it’s ultimately for the best. The final score in this game does not matter. Kamara has proven more in his first few years as a pro than many players do throughout their entire careers. Keeping him out of action and fresh for the regular season is the right play.
His absence also creates opportunities for the rest of the running backs rotation; Latavius Muray and Devonta Freeman badly need to rebound from their disappointing performance in the preseason opener, while Tony Jones Jr. has to be eager to build on his momentum after an unfortunate fumble threw off his groove. And Dwayne Washington needs to move fast to remind everyone he’s still in the mix, too. Let’s see how each of them responds.
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