There were several ways that Alvin Kamara could've taken to the 2024 New Orleans Saints training camp, but he chose one that's easy to interpret.
He was a full participant in every sense of the term, and WWL Radio's Deuce McAllister broke down what that should say to the New Orleans Saints as the veteran RB continues to seek a new deal.
"It shows that he wants to be here," McAllister said after the first day of camp practice. "It just wasn't a token deal where I'm gonna show up and it’ll be kind of a sit-in situation, you know, he went through walkthrough, he went through individuals, he went through team and he was a participant. ... To his teammates, they obviously know what’s going on and it shows them that he’s not gonna be the problem. Now, will that change down the road? We’ll see."
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Deuce McAllister in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
It was the first time Kamara got on the field since he departed early from the final day of Saints minicamp with his eyes set on a reworked deal. Kamara spoke to the media and indicated that he'd play whether a new deal was reached or not, but that he's hopeful something can get done.
"At this point you just hope that management, his agent, himself, they can figure out some happy ending for all parties involved and you know nobody is going to be over the moon with the decision," McAllister continued. "It’s just going to be something that both sides figure that hey, this is what we’ve got, we can work with it and let’s try to put this behind us and so we’ll see how long that takes and hopefully it’s not too long.”
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On the offense fitting AK's skillset
“I think the style of the offense, I mean, it’s a zone-based scheme and that’s what does really, really well. They can get to gap scheme from a system standpoint and I think, you know, you have some offensive linemen that will like that, but for Alvin, I agree with you 100% and if it comes to down to them not being able to agree upon anything, then he’s gonna go out there and he’s gonna put the onus on himself and obviously that’s just gonna raise the price of what they think he’s worth and what he thinks that he’s worth and, you know, you don’t want to go into that situation, but that may be … the case and so, you know, I know he’s excited and obviously it starts up front. The guys have to be able to block and just get a hat on a hat. It doesn’t have to be perfect, he can make you right and then the help has to come as well from the perimeter.”
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On Chase Young
“I think for him, you know, the question is gonna be, it’s probably the last preseason game there in New Orleans, can we get him a couple reps and here’s the thing, you’ve got about 10 days, 14 days, so if he has any type of soreness or anything that lingers, he’ll have time to kind of work that out of his system. You know, it may be a situation where they feel like he’s ready against San Francisco and then maybe not do anything that last preseason game and now you’ve got almost 3 weeks. This’ll be just what the doctors are saying, how he feels. Let me see you hit the dummy. Let me see you hit a player in a drill or two and then it’s a situation where you kind of go live and see how the body feels, how it reacts from that situation going forward, but it was good to be able to get him in some of the drills and work some of the stuff. He was over there working with one of the trainers at the end. … The young man was picked No. 2 overall and he was picked for a reason. He looks the part, there’s no doubt about it. The question is can he be healthy and go out there and play like he’s played some in his NFL career and like the player he was back at Ohio State.”
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On potential extension for Paulson Adebo
“There’s been some talks, you know. There’s been some things that they’re doing and, you know, laying some groundwork and what works best for Paulson and what works best for the Saints and I think a player that we just spoke about, Kool-Aid, maybe throws a little bit of what ifs or thoughts in that process and then you also have Alontae Taylor who could throw the same thing in that process, and so the question becomes how much is enough, how much is too much. You know, what happens on the other side of the ball as far as the corner position and so it can go a lot of different ways, I’ll put it that way. I like good players. He’s a very, very good player. Early in his career he was one that got kind of panicked a little when the ball was in the air or he got too grabby or handsy at the line of scrimmage, but you haven’t had really a lot of those issues the last couple years and he was able to come up with interceptions and if I remember correctly Paulson was a receiver at one point in his career, so I mean, he’s got pretty good hands. It’s just him being able to complete it and catch it and so I would love for him to get a deal done with the team and reward him for the success and the work that he’s put in, but you know, we’ll kind of wait and see what happens going forward.”