Alvin Kamara had a message to get across, so he sent it loud and clear by hitting the road early on the final day of minicamp earlier this offseason.
The Saints star running back wanted a new contract, or at least a reworked deal, and he didn't feel like it was being discussed with any type of real urgency. His absence changed that.
"I think there was a misconception about, oh, well Alvin didn’t say anything about a contract -- which I never do, really. I mean, it’s just, you know it’s time -- We’ve been talking about it a little bit. It hasn’t been anything really meaningful," Kamara said this week. "It’s been kind of one side where they at and I’m kind of like, nah, so I went to the crib.”
The news cycle spiraled from there. What might Alvin be seeking? Is it sensible to extend a 29-year-old running back? Will AK show up for the start of training camp at all? Are his days with the Saints numbered?
We got the answer to one of those questions this week, even as a handful of star players opted to hold out from their teams across the NFL. No, Kamara had no interest in incurring the $50,000 per day fines that would be levied for missing camp practices. He admitted that he didn't even know the actual amount in making the decision, only that he had no interest in losing money during his pursuit for more of it.
“I ain’t stupid. I ain’t gonna give no money up," Kamara said this week with a trademark grin. "I’m trying to get some money. I was gonna be here."
And there he was, though there's still the lingering question of how things go from here. Neither head coach Dennis Allen nor Mickey Loomis would betray any major concern that Kamara wouldn't be with his team when they kicked off camp this week, but there was some clear relief that it's a question they got to answer positively.
"I appreciate that he’s here and he’s in great shape like he always is and looking, you know, for a good season," Loomis said, "but more important for him he wants to win, just like the rest of us.”
Kamara echoed that sentiment, along with the fact that his contract isn't an issue that he wants to hold over teammates or coaches, none of whom could create a more favorable situation in terms of his contract, but would be impacted if a key cog of a rebuilt offense wasn't in place from the start. He was, and AK participated fully in all drills rather than try to gain leverage by withholding anything on the field.
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The running back hemmed and hawed a bit when it came to how things could develop if no contract was reached, but he did indicate he'd play out his contract either way and that his goal all along has been to retire a member of the Saints. He even indicated that consider retirement if it came down to potentially having to play elsewhere.
"I want to retire here," Kamara said. "If I’ve got to play football somewhere else, I’d probably be somewhere with my feet kicked up somewhere in Africa somewhere or something like that, but yea, I want to be a Saint."
WHAT'S THE DEAL?
The question for Kamara becomes: What would be a viable conclusion for both player and team?
Kamara, soon to be 29, is in the penultimate season of a 5-year, $75 million contract signed prior to the 2020 season. There's time left on the contract, but with a $29 million cap hit scheduled for 2025 and only a little over $10 million of that registering as a dead cap hit, a cut would seem more likely if no extension is reached.
Speaking of Africa, that's where Kamara was this offseason for some time while the Saints underwent their standard contract conversion spree to get cap compliant. He expected his deal would be part of that, but it wasn't. The Saints reworked several deals, including a pair of 1-year extensions with veterans Demario Davis and Tyrann Mathieu that included a minor pay cut at the front end for extra security on the back end. Kamara indicated that there was an idea he might do something similar, but when that didn't happen, momentum toward a reworked deal ceased.
"We didn’t even get to the point of really getting anywhere with an extension, he said. "It wasn’t really a negotiation thing."
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What Kamara did make clear was that if that negotiation does take place, his asks are certainly -- at least by his definition -- not going to be unreasonable.
"Some people say the money don’t matter – the money does matter, but in the grand scheme of things I’ve made a lot of money and I do well off the field, also," Kamara said, "so that’s kind of like the feeling of like, OK, well, I want it to be fair, but at the same time I’m not chasing nothing, as far as money goes, I’m not chasing anything that’s outlandish or that’s offputting, that should be offputting, so I don’t know. I’m just doing my duty.”
One question will be how strongly the Saints feel, if at all, about the perceived running back cliff that arrives around age 30. Any extension would keep Kamara around beyond that mark, and he's coming off his two worst statistical seasons. That said, there were extenuating factors, including an offense that is now overhauled and being run by Klint Kubiak.
"I just know I don’t feel like I’m on the decline. I feel like I could play for 4 or 5 more years if I want to, if it goes there. … It’s situational, but at the same time it is what it is," Kamara said. "I mean, I’m here. I’m gonna come out here and do what I do. My bones don’t hurt. My legs are working. My hands work. I don’t feel like I have aging running back body syndrome.”
Where things go from here? We'll see. If the Saints do try to play things out as structured and Kamara enjoys a career renaissance in an offense that seems to suit him well, things could end up being even more costly.
In the meantime Kamara is approaching a possible extension with a straightforward, honest approach that he's become known for since the Saints picked him in the third round of the 2017 draft. In that time he's, more often than not, been the team's most explosive offensive player and is the franchise leader in touchdowns.
He could've chosen to play hard ball to further his case, potentially to the detriment of his team. Instead he chose to play ball, hopeful that things will work out for him. His quarterback Derek Carr, who admitted to some reservations about whether his star running back would be with the team on Wednesday, summed it up best.
"I think that’s the loudest thing he could say," Carr said, "by showing up and working the way that he does. ... When we’re out here he just works and I think that spoke, hopefully that spoke volumes to whoever and whatever he’s trying to get done.”