Are the Saints mistreating Alvin Kamara?
Tyrann Mathieu thinks so. On his podcast this week, the Honey Badger criticized team officials for not “dealing with (Kamara) in good faith” or having the courage to cut the star running back.
“This is not the way you treat your franchise all-time touchdown leader,” Mathieu said.
Mathieu is biased. He’s a former player and views the situation from a player’s perspective. And given the long history of NFL teams shafting players, his take is perfectly understandable. But I don’t see how anyone can say the Saints are mistreating Kamara. All things considered, I’d say they’re going out of their way to do right by him.
Let’s dive into the situation, and you be the judge.
First and foremost, the Saints clearly understand the sensitivity of the situation. Kamara, after all, is one of the most accomplished and popular players in franchise history. He deserves to be treated with respect after everything he’s done for the organization and in the community. Head coach Kellen Moore and general manager Mickey Loomis know this better than anyone.
Nevertheless, the reality is Kamara is no longer the player he once was. He’s entering his 10th season and will turn 31 in July, making him one of the oldest backs in the league. And the years and miles are starting to show.
Injuries have prevented Kamara from finishing each of the past two seasons, and his production declined dramatically a year ago, when he recorded career lows in rushing yards (471), yards per carry (3.6), receptions (33), receiving yards (186) and touchdowns (one).
The advanced metrics were even worse.
His rushing success rate of 32.06% ranked 63rd out of 65 backs with 50 or more attempts last season. His 18.7 attempts per broken tackle were well worse than the league average of 16.4. He ranked last among 49 backs with an average of 1.4 yards after contact per rush and 53rd of 58 backs in elusiveness, a Pro Football Focus proprietary metric that measures the success and impact of a runner with the ball independent of the blocking.
He has managed to produce one run of more than 20 yards in the last three seasons.
By comparison, Audric Estimé, who joined the team in Week 10 of last season, produced a longer run (32 yards) in 46 attempts than Kamara has produced in 1,002 attempts over the last five seasons. (To be fair, Kamara has produced two 50-plus-yard receptions during that span.)
If that weren’t enough, the Saints were forced to replace Kamara with rookie Devin Neal in key passing situations last season because the veteran’s pass protection was so poor. He allowed six sacks in only 48 pass-blocking reps, ranking 59th out of 60 backs.
If Kamara were making the league minimum, his performance would be easier to stomach. But he was among the top 10 highest-paid backs in the league.
In a production-based league like the NFL, Kamara had the kind of year that earns you a pink slip, especially at age 30. But the Saints are not most NFL teams. They are loyal — some would say to a fault — especially to core players like Kamara.
“We love Alvin,” Moore said earlier this spring. “He means the world to all of us. Again, this is a full offseason process. Certainly, we feel like, ‘Hey, he’s in that room.’ You can find roles for all those different guys. We’ll go through the whole offseason process and continue to grow and develop this team.”
Still, while team officials have said all the right things publicly about Kamara, their actions have spoken louder. First, they restructured his contract in a way that will soften the blow if they elect to cut or trade him later this offseason. Then, they signed veteran running back Travis Etienne to a four-year deal worth $11.8 million per year in free agency.
The contract tells you exactly who the Saints view as their lead back.
At this point, the Saints appear willing to give Kamara a mulligan for his subpar season and keep him on the roster for at least one more year to share backfield duties with Etienne. And that would be somewhat unprecedented. The club moved on from Deuce McAllister and Pierre Thomas immediately after they turned 30. They cut ties with Reggie Bush, Ricky Williams, George Rogers and Chuck Muncie earlier than that.
Considering his age and declining production, Kamara is being rewarded with an extra year — a bonus for services rendered.
I wouldn’t call that “mistreatment.” I’d call it lagniappe.
