Alvin Kamara never shies away from speaking his mind when he chooses to make his voice heard, but he will throw in an occasional rhyme.
Taking to social media on Tuesday amid a rare Louisiana snowstorm, AK put in writing exactly who he'd prefer to see hired as the Saints next head coach.
"My vote for head coach rhyme wit Fizzi...," Kamara posted on X with no clear provocation.
If that wasn't clear, AK was throwing his weight behind Darren Rizzi's candidacy. The Saints star running back went on to elaborate that he takes amusement in watching outsiders argue over what makes a good NFL head coach.
"Ion really speak too much football. Especially in the offseason. But it be funny hearing why yall think a coach should get a job or not," Kamara posted. "But then again.. the last time some yall played organized anything was last night on 2k. Can’t een get ya best friend to pass you the ball at the park. Wife mad as hell you yelling on the game all night."
The comments were at least somewhat in jest, but they did double down on comments that he made when he most recently spoke with the media following the Saints' season-ending loss to the Bucs. Kamara missed the game with a groin injury that he unsuccessfully attempted to work back from over the final month of the season.
At the time he chose to keep most opinions about the future direction of the team to himself, but he was outspoken as to his thoughts on Rizzi's performance after taking over for Dennis Allen in Week 10. The Saints were on a 7-game losing streak and went on to win three of the next four games before losing their final three of the year.
"Rizzi obviously came in at a time where we needed a jolt and he gave that to us, right? But you know … nobody cares about the word interim, they’re like well they went 5-12, you know what I’m saying, and then you lose a couple games and it’s like, oh, well we need a new coach. You know, but internally from what I’ve seen, like I know Rizzi is more than capable. He’s not scared to make change. He’s not scared to hold people accountable, he holds himself accountable," Kamara said. "He’s just a genuine dude ... and I think personally he has what it takes to be a head coach in this league. Now, like I said, there’s conversations that got to be had upstairs, there’s evaluations that need to be done, the process is still gonna be the process. You’re gonna interview coaches and see what’s going on, but, you know, shoot, if I had to throw a vote in a hat, like, I’m with Rizzi."
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The pair has been linked closely since Rizzi took over, with Kamara soundly in the interim's corner and a key supporter as the locker room embraced the former special teams coordinator over the second half of the season. Rizzi was quick to name Kamara an additional captain and said the support from the team's veteran players, none of whom publicly expressed an interest to be removed from the situation, was one of the bigger positives of his tenure.
"That might’ve been the best part of this whole 8-game stretch is those, you know, guys that I’ve mentioned before, there was kind of that core group, the guys that have been here for along time staying engaged. ... I think our ‘marquee guys’ are the guys that were steering the ship,” Rizzi said.
He also pointed to players like Kamara and Derek Carr working tirelessly to get back from injury despite the team being eliminated from postseason contention as a sign of the culture he helped establish.
"It meant a lot to me that those guys they didn’t want to go on IR. You know, ‘Rizz, I don’t want to go on IR. I’m trying to get back.’ Because the easy thing to do, especially when you’re eliminated form the playoffs is OK, all right, I’ll see you next year," Rizzi said, "especially for guys that are name players like that with already established careers, so yea, it meant a lot to me personally to watch those guys in there every day trying to fight back and get out there and it meant a lot to me to watch guys like, you know, Cam Jordan and Demario Davis and these guys in this last game of the year, you know, still flying around the field, still playing with a passion, because again, it would’ve been easy to just kind of cash it in.”
When Cam Jordan was asked about Rizzi late in the year, he referred to the interim as "head coach material." If the Saints are seriously weighing handing Rizzi the key, having those players in his corner could be siginificant.
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Kamara went on to say he didn't know exactly how much his input would be valued in the coaching search, but that he'd be glad to give it and particularly after he "got on the same page" with teammates and others throughout the organization. The veteran RB who signed an extension with the team this offseason said he sees good things happening within the organization despite recent struggles.
"I could’ve you know, kind of forced my way out, but I know what’s in the cloth here. I know what it feels like to be on top down here," Kamara said. "I mean, we had a good stretch of, you know, great teams and you know, good feelings around here, so I know that essence isn’t lost, you know, we’ve just kind of, it’s a little dark and we’ve got to find a path to get back to that, you know, to get back on track."
A big part of getting back on the right track will be nailing the head coaching hire, a position for which Rizzi has officially been interviewed for. As of this point he's the only coach who has been interviewed in person, with the process for more in-person interviews this week thrown into flux by a winter storm. Coaches under contract with other teams were not eligible to do so until Jan. 20.
The list of coaches the Saints have conducted virtual interviews with includes:
- Lions DC Aaron Glenn
- Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver
- Giants OC Mike Kafka
- Eagles OC Kellen Moore
- Bills OC Joe Brady
The Saints were scheduled for in-person visits with Weaver, Kafka and Glenn early in the week, but those have been pushed back. Glenn is also interviewing with the Jets on Tuesday and could soon be off the table if their blitz to hire him is successful. The Saints are also expected to schedule an interview with former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who was thought to be a top candidate for the Bears job that ultimately went to Ben Johnson.
Brady and Moore could also be interviewed in person, but won't be eligible to do so until after their respective conference championship games. The Saints have also requested to interview Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury, but he has stated that he will not pursue head coaching opportunities until Washington's season is concluded.