Now that the New Orleans Saints and star running back Alvin Kamara have figured out his contract, the next big question surrounding the key contributor will be his role in 2026.
With the addition of running back Travis Etienne Jr. and a cap hit reduction of around $4.5 million, it’s expected that Kamara’s role will be more of a complementary one as opposed that of a bell cow back. This should equate to a return to the usage he held going back to his first four years in the league.
During his rookie season, he saw around 27% of the team’s carries and roughly 36% of the team’s touches. By the time he’d grown into the more featured back (but still in a tandem) in 2020, he was receiving 37.9% of carries and still about 31.2% of total offensive touches.
In the last few years, that usage, especially in regard to carries, has leapt to 37.5% in 2023 and 51.3% in 2024.
Last year, his usage dipped due to his reduced third down role and a midseason injury shutting down his year early.
It’s reasonable to expect, with Kamara going from a $10.5 million cap hit to a $6 million payment in 2026, that the initial role he will see early in the year is one more akin to that which he served in the first few years of his career. Should the needs around his contributions grow, he’s got $2.5 million in incentives that are likely to be tied to production or snap count to allow the payments to remain commensurate with the role.
