Tag: Alvin Kamara

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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Klint Kubiak-Derrick Foster pairing can maximize Saints’ running backs

The Klint Kubiak-Derrick Foster pairing should ensure Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller’s versatility is maximized in 2024:

As the New Orleans Saints fill out the offensive coaching staff, they have closed in on Derrick Foster as their running backs coach. Foster comes over to New Orleans after three years with the Los Angeles Chargers in the same position. He’ll be working under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and the pairing has the potential to elevate the running backs room.

The versatility of Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller can be maximized by this coaching duo. In Foster’s two years in Los Angeles, running back Austin Ekeler led the league in total touchdowns (rushing and receiving). His tutelage will likely leave a larger impression on Miller as a young player, but Kamara will benefit as well from a coach familiar with using a versatile player, such as Kamara.

Kubiak has a similar level of expertise. He worked with Christian McCaffrey, this year’s leader in touchdowns, on the San Francisco 49ers. Seeing Kyle Shanahan get the most out of McCaffrey’s many talents has to have taught him some things in how to best deploy Kamara.

The combination of Kubiak installing a running back-friendly scheme and familiarity with dual-threat playmakers should help the Saints maximize the talents at the position. Expect more catches and touchdowns for both Kamara and Miller in 2024.

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Dennis Allen issues statement on hiring new OC Klint Kubiak

New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen issued a statement on the team hiring its new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak:

The New Orleans Saints have announced that Klint Kubiak will be officially hired as their new offensive coordinator, replacing Pete Carmichael — who had been the longest-tenured OC in the league. But change was needed, and it falls on Kubiak to install a new system that can maximize the talents of players like quarterback Derek Carr, running back Alvin Kamara, and wide receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed.

One person who’s jazzed about the pickup: head coach Dennis Allen, who laid out Kubiak’s qualifications and expectations on Wednesday afternoon.

“We are excited to announce Klint Kubiak as our offensive coordinator,” Allen said in a team statement. “I want to thank the various impressive candidates that we interviewed throughout this process. Klint has done an excellent job in a variety of roles in ten years in the NFL and has valuable play-calling experience. He has played an important role in the growth of many players throughout his career, starting with the quarterback position. I look forward to us getting to work as we form our offensive staff and to see Klint lead that group, play a pivotal role in the development of our players on offense and maximize our strengths on offense.”

The Saints met with at least eleven different candidates before selecting Kubiak for the job — some of their first choices were hired by other teams, but their interest in Kubiak started early, and he chose New Orleans over some other opportunities. It’s clear that Allen has confidence Kubiak can modernize their offense and compete each week.

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Saints expected to hire former Chargers RB coach Derrick Foster

The Saints are expected to hire former Chargers running backs coach Derrick Foster, adding more youth and new insight to their coaching staff:

This could be a big get: Derrick Foster is expected to be hired as the New Orleans Saints’ new running backs coach, as first reported by Matt Zenitz of 247 Sports.

Foster, 38, spent the last three years in that position with the Los Angeles Chargers, where he helped develop Austin Ekeler into the NFL’s top scoring threat; no player scored more touchdowns (44) over the last three years put together.

Before he came to the NFL, Foster coached running backs at Iowa from 2018 to 2020 and also worked at Samford, Northwestern State in Louisiana, and Tennessee.

Now, he’ll be working with Alvin Kamara. The Saints fielded one of the league’s least-effective rushing attacks in 2023 and it falls on Foster and new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to get more out of their personnel; not just Kamara but also second-year pro Kendre Miller and veteran backup Jamaal Williams. They can’t rely on Taysom Hill being the team’s most explosive runner again in 2024.

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4 Saints who can benefit from Klint Kubiak’s arrival

Which members of the New Orleans Saints are the biggest benefactors from Klint Kubiak’s arrival? An upgraded offense can help more than just players:

The New Orleans Saints have found their new offensive coordinator in San Francisco 49ers passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak. This ends the near month long search to fill the position since the Saint fired long time coordinator Pete Carmichael. Reasonably, the search was probably done long ago, but New Orleans had to wait until after the Super Bowl to make this official.

The Saints need something new from the offense, and they’re getting that in the form of a scheme change. This is the first diversion from their offensive mentality since 2006. Most importantly, it’ll be different than the last two years. What Saints players and coaches will benefit the most from this change?

Maurice Jones-Drew ranks Alvin Kamara as 30th-best running back in NFL

Maurice Jones-Drew ranks every running back to start a game in 2023.

NFL Network analyst Maurice Jones-Drew ranked all 72 running backs who started a game this season, and the New Orleans Saints had three of them: Alvin Kamara, Jamaal Williams and Tony Jones Jr. (Kendre Miller didn’t qualify.)

The Saints running game wasn’t strong this season, so it should come as no surprise that no New Orleans player ranks high on the list. Kamara is the first Saint to make the list at No. 30. His season was limited in the running game, and New Orleans also failed to deliver on preseason hype that Kamara would return to his previous glory as a pass catcher.

Williams is significantly farther down the list, in the bottom third. There’s a reason the players decided to defy Dennis Allen in order to get Williams a touchdown in the season finale. He struggled to find his footing in the offense.

Jones, meanwhile, started for the Saints in Week 3. He later became an Arizona Cardinal and now finds himself as the 64th-ranked running back by Jones-Drew. The Saints will be hoping for more out of the group in 2024.

Every NFL team’s rushing leader from the 2023 regular season

Here is every team’s leading rusher from the 2023 campaign

A Carolina Panther led the entire NFL in rushing this past season!

Oh, wait . . . our apologies . . .

A former Carolina Panther led the entire NFL in rushing this past season!  So, congratulations to Christian McCaffrey, who is also just days away from playing on the game’s biggest stage.

Now, as we continue to put a bow on the year, let’s look back at each team’s leading rusher from the 2023 regular season.

Pete Carmichael was one of the NFL’s worst offensive play callers, says analyst

The bar isn’t very high for Klint Kubiak. He’s replacing Pete Carmichael, who this analyst says was one of the NFL’s worst offensive play callers in 2023:

Three of the NFL’s four worst play callers worked in the NFC South last year, according to research from pro football analyst Steven Patton. That includes former New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, who was dismissed after the season. He’s expected to be replaced by San Francisco 49eres passing game specialist Klint Kubiak, who is unallowed to sign a contract until after Super Bowl LVIII.

Patton’s methodology considered “personnel and market efficiency with team constraints” which reflects performance relative to other teams facing the same opponents and key players missing due to injury or suspension. And Carmichael ended the 2023 season with the third-worst rating; only ex-Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown (hired by the Chicago Bears for 2024) and recently-fired Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith (picked up by the Pittsburgh Steelers) ranked lower.

Carmichael struggled to adapt the Sean Payton offense to modern times. He was too slow to add motion to the offense and took too long to emphasize the play action passes that Derek Carr thrived with throughout his Raiders career. The Saints were too predictable in their personnel, often keying in opposing defenses to whether the play was a run or pass by relying too hard on blocking specialists at wide receiver. A bigger problem than that was predictability in their formations; New Orleans only rarely threw out of running looks and vice versa, giving Alvin Kamara too few light boxes to run against.

Hopefully Kubiak can liven things up in 2024. The Saints are betting that he learned a lot from his year in San Francisco working under Kyle Shanahan (who, Patton says, was the league’s fourth-best play caller on offense) and his previous experience calling plays for the Minnesota Vikings (in 2021) and Denver Broncos (during six games in 2022). And the good news is the bar isn’t too high in New Orleans. If Kubiak can stay about the bottom-tier he’ll be an improvement over past results. Obviously the Saints are betting he’ll do much better than that.

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Ranking the Saints’ most important team needs for 2024

Musts, needs, and wants: Highlighting the New Orleans Saints’ areas of concern for 2024 with targets for free agency and the NFL draft

It’s no secret that the New Orleans Saints are a flawed team: their three-year playoffs drought is proof of it. So changes are obviously going to be needed this offseason. But where to begin? Who could cure what ails them?

Some disgruntled fans are calling for an overhaul of team leadership with a new head coach, general manager, and quarterback, but none of those things are going to happen this offseason. We need to keep expectations realistic.

Here are some positions of need the Saints should prioritize in the spring, along with realistic free agent targets and possible draft prospects who might be available when New Orleans is on the clock.

Saints report card: Grading every position from 2023

New Orleans Saints report card: Grading every position group from 2023, from Derek Carr at quarterback to the offensive line and cornerbacks

Which position groups held the New Orleans Saints back in 2023? Which ones carried the team? Those are the questions we set out to answer in our 2023 report card by evaluating every position on the team from quarterback to cornerback and everywhere in-between.

Here’s how we graded all of them: