Alvin Kamara will remain in New Orleans through at least the 2026 season.
Per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Kamara has agreed to a two-year, $24.5million deal with the New Orleans Saints.
Before Kamara’s new deal, the Saints were $97.6 million over the salary cap for 2025, per Spotrac. They’ll need to sort out their cap situation prior to the start of next season.
Kamara had two years remaining on his previous contract, but the Saints could have gotten out of it after 2024 and saved $18.9 million against the cap.
The running-back market had a bit of a rebound this offseason after a rough couple of years. Josh Jacobs (four years, $48 million), Saquon Barkley (three years, $37.5 million), Joe Mixon (three years, $27 million), Derrick Henry (two years, $16 million), Tony Pollard (three years, $24 million) and D’Andre Swift (three years, $24.5 million) all signed deals worth at least $8 million annually.
Reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey signed a two-year, $38 million extension with the San Francisco 49ers. The deal added $24 million in guarantees and $8 million to his annual salaries in 2024 and 2025.
Kamara was still the second-highest paid running back in the NFL, behind McCaffrey, but this new deal boosts his pay for the next severalyears. He made a point of letting the Saints know he wanted a new contract by skipping the final day of mandatory minicamp on June 13.
The holdout didn’t carry over to training camp, indicating any potential tensions between the two sides may have thawed.
There is plenty of risk for the always-cap-strapped Saints in investing more money into a running back who turned 29 on July 25. He got off to a terrific start this season with 690 yards from scrimmage and seven total touchdowns through the first seven games, but the Saints have lost five straight after a 2-0 start.
Kamara is perfectly capable of putting up good numbers over the course of a season. He led the Saints in yards from scrimmage and total touchdowns in 2023, but his 1,160 yards from scrimmage were the fewest of his career. He has averaged 3.9 yards per carry over the past three seasons after averaging 5.0 in his first four seasons.
Injuries have also piled up for Kamara over the years. He has missed at least two games in each of the last three seasons.
As long as the Saints can build a solid infrastructure around Kamara, his pass-catching ability should allow him to age more gracefully than a traditional running back.
