The New Orleans Saints just got some bad news and good news around running back Alvin Kamara, who left the team’s joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys early due to a knee injury.
As Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reported Tuesday night, the injury did not lead to Kamara suffering any kind of tear, but it was still severe enough that he will miss a few weeks of action.
Wednesday morning, the specifics of the injury were released by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who reported that the veteran back has suffered an MCL sprain and confirmed the timeline of a few weeks missed.
That could mean that Kamara is ready to go for the beginning of the regular season, but he may be shut down for the remainder of training camp and the preseason.
Kamara’s experience will aid him here, as he won’t miss much not being involved this late in the training camp process. He’s been a part of Head Coach Kellen Moore’s offense for more than a year, got through all of the installation practices and has enough veteran experience to hit the ground running upon his return.
Factoring in ramping back up and time for gameplanning, whether or not he is available for the season opener will be the next big question. But in either case, it appears that he’ll be ready to go early in the season, requiring the timeline holds.
This will give the Saints a chance to get a look at some of their young backs that are vying for additional rolls in the backfield behind Kamara and Travis Etienne Jr.
Running backs Kendre Miller and Devin Neal have recently returned from injury while Audric Estime has been impressive throughout camp. This will allow them, once Estime returns from his own injury, along with new faces Ty Chandler and CJ Donaldson to see more action and will give the Saints a clearer picture at how to build out the running back room for the regular season.
