New Orleans has finally decided what to do with Alvin Kamara. And the answer is not what a lot of fans expected.
The Saints will keep Kamara through the final year of his current contract without an extension or restructure, sources confirmed to multiple outlets Wednesday. That means the 30-year-old running back will play out the last season of his two-year, $24.5 million deal and hit free agency next spring.
This is essentially a professional break-up in slow motion. And Kamara has to be reading between the lines.
The move makes sense from a football perspective, even if it hurts fans who watched Kamara become the face of the franchise offense over the last decade. New Orleans just signed Travis Etienne to a four-year, $52 million contract this offseason. That deal was clearly the future at the position. Kamara is the transition.
Etienne gives the Saints youth. He gives them speed. He gives them a receiving back with second-level burst that Kamara, at this stage of his career, no longer provides in the same way. The team is investing in the next generation. Kamara gets to be part of a farewell tour whether he wants one or not.
Kamara numbers still play up when he is healthy. He had 950 rushing yards and 40 catches last season. He remains one of the best pass-blocking backs in the league. He is not done. He is just no longer the guaranteed centerpiece.
The Savannah Bananas leg-grab incident from earlier this month felt oddly symbolic in hindsight. Kamara went down clutching his leg during an appearance, scaring fans across the country before it was revealed to be an act. But the way social media reacted told you something about where his career stands. Fans immediately assumed the worst. That is not what happens with a player still in his prime.
Head coach Kellen Moore has been non-committal about how the backfield will split. Publicly, he keeps saying Kamara is still a big part of the offense. Privately, the beat writers who cover this team say Etienne is going to get the touches.
That will not sit well with Kamara. He has been the Saints offense for years. He watched them draft Etienne alternatives. He watched them let Michael Thomas walk. He watched Derek Carr get benched, then released. This organization has gone through a lot of changes, and Kamara has been one of the constants.
Now the team is telling him, without actually telling him, that his time is winding down.
The interesting subplot is what happens if Kamara has a big season. He is still capable of an 1,100-yard, 60-catch year if the workload is there. Would the Saints reverse course and offer an extension in November? Would Kamara even want it at that point?
Free agency next spring will be interesting for him. Teams will look at the age, will look at the workload history, and will offer short-term deals. Somebody will pay him. Just probably not a lot.
For now, Kamara does not have great leverage. He can hold in, but that would just cost him money. He can play out the season, but he does not control the touches. He can stay quiet and hope the door reopens.
The Saints have made their choice. Alvin Kamara now has to decide how he wants to write his final chapter in New Orleans.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
