4:12pm: The Saints and Kamara have finalized the reworked deal, according to NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport. “Alvin’s goal, and the team’s goal, was for him to remain with the and retire a Saint,” the RB’s agent, Brad Cicala, said. Although precise terms are still not known, though The Exhibit’s Josina Anderson confirms it is a pay cut, Kamara is set to play out the through-2026 deal he signed in 2024.
3:16pm: While the franchise tag deadline did not produce any drama this year, the Saints are making some news today. Despite signing Travis Etienne in March, New Orleans intends to retain Alvin Kamara for at least one more season.
Kamara is positioned to stay with the Saints for a 10th year, with NewOrleans.football’s Nick Underhill (along with former Saints Pro Bowler Terron Armstead) reporting the sides are finalizing a reworked contract. One season remained on Kamara’s two-year Saints extension, which he had signed during the 2024 season, but Etienne’s arrival clouded the former Pro Bowler’s status. Kamara indeed will accept a pay cut, Underhill adds, though it is unclear how much of a trim will take place.
The Saints gave Etienne a four-year, $48MM free agency accord that included $24MM guaranteed at signing. Benefiting to a degree from Breece Hall not being available (via the franchise tag), the five-year Jaguar is poised to supplant Kamara as the Saints’ top back. The Etienne signing brought more Kamara trade rumors, but months passed without a resolution.
In May, GM Mickey Loomis said Kamara did not have a decision to make regarding a pay cut. A week later, a report indicated no pay cut had been discussed. The details of Kamara’s latest Saints agreement are not known, but he will collect a reduced figure from the $11MM he was to earn this year. Kamara, 31 next week, signed a two-year deal worth $24.5MM; the Saints guaranteed him $19.23MM at signing in October 2024.
Kamara’s contract included a $3MM guarantee for 2026. He entered the offseason carrying a cap number of $18.12MM, but the perennially cap-strapped Saints utilized the CBA’s 50% rule — which stipulates a player’s salary and bonuses need to come in above the remaining prorated amount of that year’s signing bonus — to reduce it. As a result of that offseason adjustment, New Orleans already dropped Kamara’s 2026 cap number to $10.45MM. It appears the team is proceeding with a simpler resolution here, with this pay cut set to form an Etienne-Kamara duo for at least one season.
Starting his career 5-for-5 in Pro Bowl nods, Kamara has done well for himself financially in the NFL. The former Sean Payton chess piece agreed to a five-year, $75MM extension before the 2020 season and played four-plus years on on that contract. Although Kamara was heavily rumored to become a 2025 Saints cap casualty, the sides agreed on an extension that brought a hefty guarantee for the then-29-year-old RB. Kamara has made more than $67MM in his career, per OverTheCap.
The nine-year Saint is probably the best running back in franchise history. Kamara’s five Pro Bowls are three more than any other Saints RB. While the likes of Deuce McAllister, Dalton Hilliard, Rueben Mayes, George Rogers and Chuck Muncie experienced success in New Orleans, Kamara’s body of work — and role in the team’s late-2010s resurgence — stands out among this crowd. Although Fred McAfee played until age 38, the RB/special-teamer spent five midcareer years away from New Orleans. Mark Ingram played 10 Saints seasons but also spent time away from the team during his career. A 2017 third-round pick, Kamara is a career-long Saint.
A 2023 suspension and a run of injuries have moved Kamara away from the top tier at the position. The Tennessee product’s age and 2025 injury led to the Saints signing Etienne, who is going into an age-27 season. The team also rosters Kendre Miller, Devin Neal and free agent pickup Ty Chandler. Wednesday’s agreement, however, certainly points to Etienne and Kamara coexisting.
Kamara has expressed a desire to be a one-team player, going as far as to mention retirement if he were traded last year. The Saints held onto him at the deadline but saw an MCL sprain end his season not long after. Kamara suffered knee sprains during the 2019 and ’21 seasons, while he also missed seven games between the 2023 and ’24 campaigns.
Twice a second-team All-Pro, Kamara made a considerable difference in the Saints finding their footing again in 2017. The team made four straight playoff berths, with its impact 2017 draft class riding shotgun to Drew Brees at the time. Kamara and Ingram formed a lethal tandem from the start of the younger back’s career, and Kamara quickly usurped the 2011 first-rounder as the team’s top run-game option.
Toiling in the NFL’s middle class for most of the time since that string of postseason berths, the Saints have used Kamara as their regular RB starter. He produced 1,493 scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns in 2024. Last season, however, brought a step back. Kamara averaged a career-low 3.6 yards per carry and finished with just 657 scrimmage yards in an 11-game slate.
The Saints will nevertheless give him another chance, via this fourth contract. This might end up being Kamara’s final Saints season, but it marks a second instance of the team opting to complete a new contract rather than part ways with the backfield cornerstone.
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