The 2023 NFL draft is three weeks out, and an underrated team need for the New Orleans Saints lies at running back. Alvin Kamara is likely going to miss time with a league suspension following last year’s arrest in Las Vegas (for which he’ll go on trial in July), and though the Saints made a splashy free agent signing in Jamaal Williams the cupboard is otherwise looking kind of bare. The draft is a great opportunity for them to reload a thin spot on the depth chart.
Here are the running backs under contract for 2023, with new additions in bold:
- Alvin Kamara
- Jamaal Williams
- Eno Benjamin
- Derrick Gore
- Adam Prentice (fullback)
Mark Ingram II, Dwayne Washington, and David Johnson are still unsigned free agents from last year’s team, and it’s possible one or more of them returns on another minimum deal. But neither Ingram nor Johnson were very effective when called upon, and Washington missed most of the last month of the season with serious cluster migraines, so it’s possible the Saints continue to look to a new direction as they restock the depth chart.
They’re certainly doing their homework on this draft class. The Saints have been linked to mid-round prospects like TCU’s Kendre Miller, UAB’s DeWayne McBride, Pitt’s Israel Abanikanda, and the local favorite out of Tulane, Tyjae Spears, among others. All of those players project to be picked in rounds three or four, though it only takes one team to like them enough to select them higher.
The Saints made it clear last year that they wanted to be a run-first offense, but they weren’t very efficient at it. They ranked in the top half of the league in carries (492, or 28.9 per game) but placed in the NFL’s bottom half in rushing yards (2,218, or 130.4 per game), touchdown runs (12 in 17 games), and yards per attempt (4.3). A team that wants to run as badly as they do should be performing at a higher level.
Much of that is on the offensive line, which struggled to pave the way; New Orleans ranked fifth-worst in 2.4 yards per carry before contact with a defender, per Pro Football Reference. But the Saints running backs didn’t make much happen on their own, either. Just three teams had fewer broken tackles on running plays than the Saints (14) last year: the Chargers (12), Falcons (10), and Buccaneers (9).
Kamara can still be effective in the right role, but the Saints have done him a disservice in recent years by running him into the teeth of the defense over and over again, and often with poor blocking in front of him. Williams should do a lot to help liven up the ground game, and Benjamin might have something to offer, but New Orleans needs to prioritize another running back with fresh legs. Getting an electrifying rookie like Spears or Miller in the mix would go a long way.
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