Alvin Kamara never wanted it to be about himself. That's why, despite drawing attention to his contract demands in the preseason, he was fine with letting it fade into the background when the games started and nothing had gotten done.
Still, he couldn't help but make it about him after an erroneous report surfaced that he'd demanded a trade. Kamara was sitting in a tire repair shot after getting a flat on his way to Knoxville when he was alerted to it. He didn't who the source was and he considered letting it ride for a minute. Nah.
"Let me go ahead and shoot this down," Kamara said. "Let me embarrass this dude."
So that's what he did, quoting the post on X with one word: "Incorrect," before affirming what he's said all along -- that he wants to retire a Saint and the only thing preventing that was a contract that was primed to be cut from the cap table after the 2024 season.
Less than a week later AK had his extension, negotiated in the background by agent Brad Cicala. The star running back who will hold a majority of the Saints record book when all is said and done is now tied to the team through 2026 with a two-year extension worth $24 million, with a majority of that guaranteed.
"I’ve said it so many times, I want to be here," Kamara said this week. "I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, these fans, this organization. I mean, just, my career here, I think it’s the icing on the cake to be able to say I won’t have to go anywhere else to play football, just leave it all here."
What makes that statement so believable is the actions that back it up. While many stars around the league were holding out in similar circumstances, Kamara showed up on the first day of training camp and participated fully. He said at the time that he had no interest in accruing fines, but it was about more than that -- it always has been. When he suffered a broken rib during a loss to the Eagles, Kamara found a way to play through it. When he suffered a broken hand against the Chiefs, Kamara found a way to play through it. A hip pointer? you get the idea.
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He'll credit his physical therapist Jose Tienda with the medical miracles. The man is nicknamed Mr. Miyagi for a good reason, but the mentality is what made this deal the most likely outcome, even with the team mired in a five-game losing streak that could've prompted the team to pull its chips closer and avoid any long-term commitments with aging players.
“I think [Kamara] handled it the right way," head coach Dennis Allen said. "I don’t think there was ever a question of whether we wanted Alvin to be here or not. I don’t think there was ever a question of whether Alvin wanted to be here or not. There’s a business side of it and a business aspect to it, you know, and so I think he handled it the right way, he came in, did his job, did the things he was supposed to do and finally the business side made sense on both sides and we were able to get something done.”
The rumors can stop now, and so can the questions about whether AK has been honest about his desire to stay with the team. There will be no search for a better spot to win a ring, a more attractive situation, whatever. Kamara would tell you that he'd probably "lose his flame" for playing in the NFL if he landed somewhere else. There's nothing like putting on the fleur de lis, and no other team logo would suffice. In an era of seasons that's seemed like it lacked an identity with the departures of so many culture-building players and coaches, AK has remained that glimmer of the star this team still thinks it has in its DNA.
He even went with the superhero reference to drive the point home, that if he put on another team's jersey he'd feel like Peter Parker trying to rip off the Venom suit. He's Spiderman, and he knows where he belongs.
"I’m for real," Kamara said. "I wouldn’t lie about that. ... it was really important for me to just stay buckled down here and figure it out whenever it got figured out and, you know, yesterday was the day. I think it’s just special here."
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The next step will be turning around a season that, outside of some statistical accolades and a strong start, has not gone the way the Saints intended for it to go. The Saints are mired in a five-game skid, and Kamara will be the last person to sugarcoat that scenario. He thinks the team has what it takes to right the ship.
"I think we’ve got the right mix here," Kamara said, echoing the messaging from team leaders throughout camp. "I think we’ve got the right players in the building. I think we’ve got the right, you know, I think we’ve got the right mindset. We’ve just got to … get going."
The Saints' next chance to get going will come on the road against the L.A. Chargers. Catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.