Category: Alvin Kamara

Alvin Kamara wins Florida sport fishing tournament

Alvin Kamara took some time off between Saints offseason workouts to get out on the water and reel in a tournament-winning sailfish:

Props to Alvin Kamara for making the most of his offseason. The New Orleans Saints running back headlined “The Catch” sport fishing tournament in Florida last week, teaming up with Miami Dolphins star Raheem Mostert to win the whole thing. They competed with other NFL players including Kamara’s former Saints teammates Trey Hendrickson and Jameis Winston.

One of the highlights of the fishing rodeo came when Kamara and two of his teammates hooked three sailfish at the same time. Kamara described it as “Chaos. Organized chaos … It was great. Lot of moving parts, but I think we did it effortlessly. Raheem was on there. He was fighting for his life. I was fighting for my life for a second. I got mine in first. We had to give Raheem some moral support.”

It was a fun time for all. With offseason training sessions ramping up as the summer approaches, it’s good to see veterans like Kamara making time to enjoy themselves before locking in for months of hard work.

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Alvin Kamara and a couple of famous friends working hard in Liberia

Alvin Kamara and close friends Mark Ingram II, Cameron Jordan started their offseason with some hard work volunteering in Liberia:

Shoutout to Alvin Kamara. The New Orleans Saints running back started his offseason overseas, visiting his grandparents and extended family in his mother’s home country of Liberia. And while he was there, Kamara met with local government officials and community organizers to lend a hand however he could, including the mayor of Monrovia, the nation’s capital.

And he had some big help from a couple of famous friends. Kamara’s teammate Cameron Jordan says he invited himself to fly into Monrovia and join Kamara in volunteering with the sanitation department to help clean up the streets. Their former teammate and close friend Mark Ingram II made the trip, too. All three Pro Bowlers picked up shovels, slung on bright green vests, and got to work.

It’s a really great gesture from all of them. Ingram was a key influence in the Saints locker room as a team leader and mentor for Kamara, and Jordan has always valued community outreach and charity work. Both Jordan and Ingram volunteered for USO Tours during their decade-plus in the NFL. Grabbing some work gloves and choosing to leave a place better than they found it was an easy decision. Good for them providing a great example.

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These advanced metrics suggest Alvin Kamara has lost a step

These advanced metrics suggest Alvin Kamara has lost a step. Wear and tear has taken a toll on the Saints’ star running back:

It’s been a rough couple of years for Alvin Kamara. Between an offensive line that regressed amid coaching changes and inconsistent-at-best quarterback play, the New Orleans Saints’ star running back has had to do a lot of the work on his own — and, advanced stats suggest, he’s beginning to wear down.

One analyst at Football Insights shared a chart displaying running backs through two metrics over the last two years: yards after contact per carry, and missed tackles per carry. And Kamara wound up in the wrong quadrant. So did his teammate Jamaal Williams. Both of them fell among the league’s least-dynamic running backs after performing poorly in these advanced stats.

It’s no secret that the Saints were less-than-explosive on the ground last year, but the trend goes back further than that. Kamara isn’t breaking tackles and running away from defenders as easily as we saw early in his career. It’s easy to explain when you consider how heavy a workload he’s been asked to shoulder in recent years, compared to the timeshare he enjoyed with Mark Ingram II early on. Wear and tear adds up.

But Kamara remains a big part of the team’s plans on offense, and he figures to be a big beneficiary of Klint Kubiak designing and calling plays rather than Pete Carmichael. Anything Kubiak can do to get Kamara out in space or working behind better blocking will help; giving him a longer runway will let him build up more speed to make a play. It’s not like Kamara is washed up — he still has tremendous lower-body strength and balance through contact, with a keen eye for reading the field to find an open lane. He’s a coveted talent, and the constant trade speculation is proof of it, even if he isn’t the same player he once was. Kubiak’s job is to help revitalize him.

Hopefully it works out. Between Kamara’s recent struggles, Williams’ disappointing performance, and Kendre Miller’s injury history it’s looking like the Saints should invest more resources in the position with an eye on the future. Maybe that means drafting a running back or taking advantage of the loaded free agency class. In an ideal world, Kamara is playing well enough to quiet those concerns. But that isn’t where we’re at right now.

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Bleacher Report suggests a laughable Alvin Kamara trade offer

Bleacher Report suggested a trade sending Alvin Kamara to the Ravens that’s, well, laughable. The Saints would be fools to accept this offer:

Oh, brother. Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay suggested a trade sending New Orleans Saints star running back Alvin Kamara to the Baltimore Ravens that’s, well, laughable. The Saints would be fools to accept this offer:

  • Baltimore gets: Alvin Kamara
  • New Orleans gets: 2024 seventh-round pick (No. 247 overall)

There’s an obvious problem here in the value being exchanged. Kamara may not be the same big-play threat he was earlier in his career, but the Saints are hoping he can turn things around with a new offensive coaching staff and system on top of another year working with Derek Carr, whose tendency to check down quickly after the snap led to a lot of targets going Kamara’s way. A seventh-round pick is ridiculous compensation for No. 41.

But let’s get to the other problem with Bleacher Report’s proposal. Saints fans are better acquainted with salary cap gymnastics than most, so see if you can spot the problem. Here’s what Kay had to say about this trade idea:

The 28-year-old back would be an an ideal buy-low candidate for the Ravens, who could try to capitalize on the Saints’ need to shed salary. The Saints project to be $82.8 million over next year’s cap, but they could save $11.8 million by trading Kamara after June 1.

While NFL teams are allowed to designate up to two releases as a post-June 1 cut each offseason for salary cap purposes, no rule exists for trades. The Saints would have to keep Kamara on their books with an $18.7 million cap hit through free agency in March and the 2024 NFL draft in April before trading Kamara in June to reap those cap benefits — meaning the Ravens would have already spent the seventh-round pick that Bleacher Report says Baltimore should trade to New Orleans, and the Saints would have had to get under the cap without touching Kamara’s contract.

If that’s a typo or some other oversight, then it means they see a 2025 seventh rounder as fair compensation for a five-time Pro Bowl running back, and that’s lubricious. The Saints are going to need to figure out something with Kamara’s contract this year. Whether that means another restructure, a reworking, a pay cut, or something else unknown, they can’t have him counting $18.7 million against the cap. But that doesn’t mean they should let another team take them to the cleaners and trade away a fan-favorite playmaker for so little in return.

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Alvin Kamara ranked a bottom-10 running back by NFL analyst

Maurice Jones-Drew ranked Alvin Kamara as a bottom-10 starting running back after posting some of the lowest averages of his career in 2023:

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara didn’t have his best season in 2023, finishing with some of the worst numbers of his pro career. Due to this, NFL Network’s Maurice Jones-Drew ranked Kamara as the 26th running back in the league out of 32 starters, which is still an eye-opening statement.

But here’s what Jones-Drew wrote to back up his claim:

“Alvin Kamara had one of his worst statistical seasons in 2023, in part due to his early-season suspension, and because he missed the final week with an ankle injury. Even when he was on the field, he wasn’t all that efficient in the run game, posting his second sub-4.0 yard-per-carry mark for a season in his career. Another factor: The offense spent a lot of 2023 out of sync and struggled to sustain drives.”

Jones-Drew is correct to point out Kamara’s missed games while also pointing out Kamara’s subpar averages. Kamara averaged his second-fewest yards per carry (3.9) and posted the lowest yards per catch (6.2) of his career. There hasn’t been a lot going right around Kamara and it has significantly hindered Kamara’s production. Some of that is to be expected as he ages and the wear and tear of life in the NFL stacks up, but some of the blame should go to his coaches’ uncreative play calling, too.

Hopefully 2024 can be a bounce-back year for Kamara. He’s working with a quarterback who is all too eager to throw to his running backs in Derek Carr and that alone should help him get more touches than we’ve seen as of late. With that said, it’s also important for the Saints to invest in a better backup plan in case Kamara continues to regress or miss more time.

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Report: Alvin Kamara (ankle) won’t play vs. Falcons in Week 18

NOF’s Nick Underhill reports that Alvin Kamara (ankle) won’t play against the Falcons in Week 18, but Kendre Miller is going to be active:

This is huge: the New Orleans Saints will be without star running back Alvin Kamara for Sunday’s final regular season game with the Atlanta Falcons, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, who adds that rookie backup Kendre Miller will be active for the first time since his Nov. 5 ankle injury.

Kamara is dealing with an ankle injury of his own that knocked him out of last week’s road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Saints rested him during practice all week before making this decision, but he was still seen as a long-shot to play all along.

Hopefully Miller can step up in his absence. The first-year pro has dealt with a ton of adversity over the last 12 months — he declared for the NFL draft after his college career ended with a knee injury before TCU’s national championship bid, costing him much of the offseason with the Saints. Then a preseason hamstring injury slowed him down. And when he did return, a midseason ankle sprain sidelined him.

With Kamara out and Miller in, the Saints’ depth chart at running back will include Jamaal Williams and practice squad call-up Jordan Mims along with Miller. Kamara accounted for 69 rushing yards and 50 receiving yards in New Orleans’ loss to Atlanta earlier this season; Williams, the only other Saints running back active for the game, totaled 10 yards from scrimmage.

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Report: Alvin Kamara is ‘day to day’ with sprained ankle before Saints vs. Falcons

NOF’s Nick Underhill reports Alvin Kamara is ‘day to day’ with a sprained ankle. There’s a real chance the star running back misses Week 18’s season finale:

This could be a real problem. Alvin Kamara left the New Orleans Saints’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a sprained ankle and didn’t return to action after halftime, and there’s a real chance he won’t be available when they kick off the regular season finale with the Atlanta Falcons in Week 18. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill repots that Kamara “is truly day to day.”

When discussing Kamara’s status with reporters Sunday evening, Saints head coach Dennis Allen said: “So he sprained his ankle, I think it was on their sideline before the half. Kind of came in, got it looked at, came out after the half to try to test it out, and didn’t look he was going to be functional enough to help us win. I don’t know (whether it’s a high-ankle sprain), I haven’t gotten all the details as to what it is.”

If Kamara can’t go, the Saints are awfully shorthanded at running back. Rookie draft pick Kendre Miller has a chance to return this week but he hasn’t played since Week 9 due to his own ankle injury. Veteran backup Jamaal Williams had his most productive game in Kamara’s absence against the Buccaneers. Jordan Mims and James Robinson are options on the practice squad.

It’s also possible New Orleans could sign a player from another team to round out the depth chart — their former backup Tony Jones Jr. could be signed from the Arizona Cardinals practice squad — but no matter how you look at it, it’s an unsteady situation. And it looks like a tough matchup for an Atlanta defense that has played the run well this season. The Falcons are tied for the third-fewest touchdown runs (9) while ranking top-10 in yards allowed per carry (4.0). The Saints need all hands on deck.

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Alvin Kamara among 3 Saints players ruled out vs. Bucs with injuries

RB Alvin Kamara is among 3 Saints players ruled out vs. Buccaneers with injuries, along with RT Landon Young and LB Nephi Sewell:

Of course it couldn’t be as easy for the New Orleans Saints as to walk in and out of Tampa Bay with a win over the Buccaneers. The team shared updates on several players who exited the game with injuries early in the fourth quarter — including Alvin Kamara.

After being initially ruled questionable to return, the Saints announced that Kamara would not return due to an ankle injury. That’s also the case for right tackle Landon Young, who suffered a knee injury while starting in relief of Ryan Ramczyk. A third Saints player, backup linebacker Nephi Sewell, also injured his knee on a non-contact play but was immediately ruled out.

It’s been a costly afternoon for New Orleans. The Saints have dominated in all phases but they’re losing some key players. Hopefully these downgrades for Kamara and Young are just precautionary; if the Saints are going to have any hope of winning a playoff seed they’ll need all hands on deck in the regular season finale against the Atlanta Falcons next week.

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Alvin Kamara claims the Saints franchise rushing touchdowns record

With two scores in the second half against the Detroit Lions, Alvin Kamara broke the Saints franchise record for most career rushing touchdowns:

Alvin Kamara now holds the record for most rushing touchdowns in New Orleans Saints history. This season has been full of record breaking moments for Alvin Kamara. He has broken the team record for most total touchdowns, 2 point conversions and now rushing touchdowns. He took the title from his old running mate, Mark Ingram, for those last two records. He also tied the lead for the most 2-point conversions in league history this year.

Kamara scored two touchdowns in the second half against the Detroit Lions, both of which were scores at the goal line. These scores helped New Orleans be more efficient in the red zone. Despite Kamara playing well, these were his first touchdowns since Oct. 29 versus the Indianapolis Colts.

It didn’t take long for Kamara to establish himself as one of the best running backs in the league. Through his career, his versatility and dynamic skill set has set him apart from his peers. He’s used that to establish himself as a Saints legend.

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Alvin Kamara ties Mark Ingram II’s Saints rushing touchdowns record

Alvin Kamara tied the Saints rushing touchdowns record set by his old friend Mark Ingram II on Sunday against the Lions:

Another week, another record for Alvin Kamara. The star running back tied the New Orleans Saints rushing touchdowns record set by his old friend Mark Ingram II on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

Kamara rumbled into the end zone for his 52nd career touchdown run in a Saints uniform from just 2 yards out, following a great play by Chris Olave. The second-year wide receiver gained 33 yards to get Kamara in scoring position by working back to adjust for an off-target throw from Derek Carr. Call it a team effort.

And Kamara nearly broke the record later on. He initially seemed to fall into the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown run, but booth review found that his knee hit the turf short of the goal line. Taysom Hill got the next carry and pushed through the pile to cut into the Lions’ lead. Kamara has to wait a little longer to take the record from his former teammate.

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