Kamara’s unique contract rework Saints’ biggest offseason move yet

By Ross Jackson

This is an interesting one to watch. Friday morning, NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reported that the New Orleans Saints restructured the contract of running back Alvin Kamara. 

The team had already been working to open up spending money ahead of free agency with a trio of restructures on Thursday. Unlike those deals, however, Kamara’s restructure is unique and is sparking immediate speculation about his future in New Orleans. 

Upon reporting the initial move, Underhill added details that the restructure to Kamara’s deal wasn’t the same as those to defensive end Chase Young, tight end Juwan Johnson and safety Justin Reid. 

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo then shared further information on the move. 

The #Saints and Alvin Kamara have adjusted his contract, lowering his cap number for 2026 by $8 million. But as @nick_underhill notes, it’s not a standard base salary-to-bonus conversion. Provides cap flexibility if he’s not with the team.

A situation to monitor… https://t.co/p4RpRArO9T

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 6, 2026

The deal doesn’t appear to guarantee new funds to Kamara, thereby opening the door for the team and player to potentially split without the Saints taking on a heavy dose of dead money. Only $3 million of Kamara’s $11.5 million base salary was set to be guaranteed going into 2026. 

The question that remains is how exactly the $10.155 million restructure will be implemented. The funds could be turned into incentives rather than a signing bonus—reminiscent of what New Orleans did with the contracts of defensive end Cameron Jordan and safety Tyrann Mathieu last year. 

Additionally, it could be flipped to a roster bonus that locks in at a later date. But that provides much less flexibility. 

Another surprising option could be a full-on salary reduction. That might be a little drastic for the moment, but is usually a precursor to a retirement. It seems if that were the case, those details would have been immediately available. It would be a surprise, but is worth noting as a possibility. 

This will be an intriguing storyline to follow throughout the offseason. Though the deal seems to indicate a split is possible, the idea that the Saints could now save in the event of a departure could merely be a byproduct of an incentive-heavy approach to 2026.