Alvin Kamara isn’t a quarterback. He knows that. The Saints know that. But that didn’t stop the running back’s top-ranked sense of humor from throwing his hat into the ring of the team’s current quarterback battle between Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston.
He’d even wear No. 9, he said, in honor of Drew Brees.
"No offseason talk of me in the quarterback battle. Nothing. No ESPN hot takes. Nothing. So I mean, I’m keeping my arm hot. … If both of them want to retire and do something, I’ll be there. I’ll be all right,” Kamara said in his effective deadpan comedy style. " I’ll throw a 9 on, too, for Drew.”
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While, in all seriousness, Kamara isn’t in the conversation to be a starting quarterback for the Saints, don’t rule out a trick play that sees the running back tossing a pass this season. He’s been involved in a handful of toss backs and double passes, but has only thrown one official pass thus far in his career. That play resulted in a 13-yard gain to Josh Hill in the 2019 season, during a 31-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Winston was the starting quarterback on the opposing sideline for that game.
Still, Kamara continued, the allure of that position is real, even for a player that’s got his name on a cereal box as of this week. He also became the co-owner of a local smoothie chain, the Big Squeezy, this offseason.
“I don’t want to be greedy, because I’ve got a little bit. … Cereal and milk is good. Juice money is good. All that’s good,” Kamara said. "But there’s nothing like that quarterback money.”
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Kamara didn’t play in the preseason opener against the Ravens. It’s unknown if he’ll suit up against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday, though he said he’d be fine not playing if that was the decision. The Saints know fully what to expect from the 5th-year running back, and health could trump reps at this point in an offseason that’s seen more than its fair share of turmoil. The team held its practice Friday at the Caesars Superdome, which has a new look and feel after significant offseason renovations.
Kamara expressed confidence in either Winston or Hill, regardless of who lands on the starting line in Week 1. But he does appreciate that his role will be slightly different depending on who is under center.
“I know Jameis say he can run better than Taysom,” Kamara said, laughing. "With Taysom, he has that threat of him taking off at any point and going, so with me I’m like ‘man, you could’ve gave me the ball, I could’ve ran.’ But I think it’s just subtle nuances where my role kind of shifts and changes with each quarterback. But in the grand scheme of things I’m just there to help. So whatever they need, whatever my role needs to be for them to make their job easier, that’s what I’m gonna do.”