The New Orleans Saints officially introduced four big free agent acquisitions on Thursday, but the plans for a veteran player still on the roster drew the biggest headlines.
That player is Alvin Kamara, who is entering the final year of his current deal but has a murky outlook after a down statistical season and with the team landing a big ticket free agent in Travis Etienne. Head coach Kellen Moore struck a vague note when asked about plans for the position.
"Obviously we love Alvin and he’s meant a lot to this organization," Moore told WWL Radio, "and certainly that’s a process we’ll go through as we go through this whole offseason. I think the main, most important part of this thing was just going through the early stage of free agency, which is a busy part of this thing, and then it slows down and you’re able to kind of evaluate."
Kamara, 30, is coming off career lows in several statistical categories and missed the final six games of 2025 due to a knee injury. The former third round pick from 2017 and the franchise's all-time leading rusher has indicated previously that he'd likely retire rather than be traded, but hasn't spoken to reporters since prior to the injury. The Saints did restructure his contract to drop his 2026 base salary down to the league minimum, but did not guarantee any future money.
When asked is Kamara was considering retirement, Moore told reporters: “I’m not going to get into all that stuff. I haven’t had those conversations in any way.”
The Saints head coach spoke to the media Thursday alongside four new free agent additions in G David Edwards, P Ryan Wright, TE Noah Fant and LB Kaden Elliss. Etienne was expected to be introduced later in the week.
Whether Kamara is in the mix with Etienne, the Saints did make run game improvements a major priority of the offseason. Edwards, Etienne and Fant will all play a role in that. The Saints also announced a 2-year extension with depth guard Dillon Radunz. The Saints' 3.7 yards per carry ranked 31st in the NFL, and saw the third fewest 20-plus-yard runs in the league (5), only one of which came from the RB position. They were one of five NFL teams that didn't record a run of 40-plus yards. Etienne logged 7 carries of 20-plus-yards on his own, including three of 40-plus.
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“We felt like certainly that’s an area that we have to improve on," Moore said. "There’s a lot of layers to that, you know, certainly there’s some personnel stuff that we’re talking about, but obviously schematically we’ll try to continue to get better there.”
Kamara was one of four Saints veterans facing uncertain futures, but he is the lone player with a contract lasting into 2026. Another of those players was Demario Davis, who departed for the Jets in free agency and was replaced by another former Saints in Ellis. Meanwhile, Cam Jordan and Taysom Hill both had their contracts void this week but have yet to sign new deals elsewhere.
Moore was vague on those players as well, but did leave open the door for potential returns.
“You’ve just got to go through a process with everyone," he said. "We obviously love those guys, love a lot of these guys that are going through this thing and that’s what it’s all about. We’ll just take it step by step, stay in communication and we’ll see how it all plays out.”
The Saints will continue to evaluate the roster and will continue to tweak and build the roster in the coming weeks leading up the draft, in which they hold eight total picks, including No. 8 and 42 overall.