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Scoring six touchdown runs in front of a national audience tends to brighten the spotlight on you, but Alvin Kamara’s feats with the New Orleans Saints have already given him a high profile. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler polled dozens of coaches, players, and front office executives from around the NFL to rank the best players at each position group, and the Saints superstar landed at the No. 2 spot among his peers.
“If I was building a team, he would be my running back,” one league executive told Fowler. “He’s the perfect modern back.”
Kamara is the first and only player in NFL history to rack up 500-plus yards as both a runner and as a receiver through his first four years as a pro; to put it bluntly, there isn’t a more versatile weapon in the game today.
He’s able to frustrate opponents on the ground and through the air, and sometimes both at the same time. The four-time Pro Bowler is one of two players in Saints history to log 2,500 or more yards in both phases, as a rusher and receiver (joining Pierre Thomas in what I’m calling the 5K Club).
Fowler pointed out that Kamara is also one of three players in the history of the league to secure at least 80 catches in each of his first four seasons in the NFL, along with his teammate Michael Thomas and Cleveland Browns receiver Jarvis Landry. It’s unfortunate that Kamara’s streak of reeling in exactly 81 receptions was cut short in 2020, though his uptick in production is a fine consolation prize.
So who owns the top spot? None other than Tennessee Titans nitro-fueled bulldozer Derrick Henry, who will get his shot at competing with Kamara head-to-head for the first time in 2021. So be sure to mark your calendars, because that matchup is going to be electric.
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