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A report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter suggested a three-day absence for Alvin Kamara at New Orleans Saints training camp was related to contract negotiations shook up the fanbase, and rightfully so: of course fans would hope one of the team’s best players was practicing every day.
But if Kamara is holding out in hopes of spurring on contract talks, he might end up being disappointed. The new collective bargaining agreement between NFL ownership and the NFL Players Association effectively killed prolonged holdouts for players on rookie contracts, including Kamara.
Per the new CBA, players who record unexcused absences during training camp are subject to fines as high as $40,000 per day. The team can choose to waive those fines, and they often have, to maintain good relations between both sides after a deal is done; but the real threat to Kamara is losing his accrued season.
If he misses more than five days of practice, Kamara will not be credited an accrued season for 2020 even if he plays in all 16 regular season games. That means he would be a restricted free agent in 2021 rather than an unrestricted free agent as he’s currently scheduled.
Kamara would then be forced to sign a one-year restricted free agent tender with the Saints, valued at between $4 and $5 million. It would work essentially the same way as a franchise tag, except for costing the Saints less than half as much against the salary cap.
Some fans might point to the three-day holdout Michael Thomas used to help speed up his own contract negotiations in training camp last year, but that was a different situation working underneath a different CBA. The risk is much higher for Kamara now than it was for Thomas then.
Per Schefter’s report, Kamara has already logged three unexcused absences. Two more and he risks costing himself significantly further on down the line, should the Saints not be spurred into signing him to a new deal.
Fortunately, both sides want an extension to happen. It’s in everyone’s interest for this situation to get resolved quickly so that Kamara can focus on the 2020 season while being paid his worth, and for the Saints to cross one item off their 2021 free agency shopping list. This bit of pressure from Kamara — slight as it may be, in the grand scheme of things — might just be what’s needed to push things over the finish line.
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