New Orleans Saints: Tempering expectations for Alvin Kamara

What will Alvin Kamara’s workload with the New Orleans Saints Offense look like leading into the rest of the season following the bye week?

For the first four weeks of the New Orleans Saints’ season Alvin Kamara was the workhorse, helping to propel the Saints offense to one of the most potent in the league. Through the first four weeks Kamara not only led the team in rushing yards, and yards from scrimmage, but also was second on the Saints in receiving yards and receptions.

When Mark Ingram returned from his suspension in Week 5 everything seemed to change. Kamara carried the ball only six times, averaging four yards a carry. Mark Ingram got the bulk of the carries with 16 and two touchdowns. The Week 5 game against the Redskins was an outlier, in which Drew Brees attempted to surpass Peyton Manning in All-Time Passing Yards. This led to a resounding victory 43-19 over the Redskins.

Fans should not fear about Kamara not getting the touches he deserves. Over the first four weeks he carried the ball 56 times while also garnering 36 receptions, good enough for most at his position by a wide margin. This workload was by far the largest of Kamara’s young career, and with a fresh Ingram back in the mix Kamara got a much-needed break.

Kamara is expected to get back to his 2017 workload where he carried the ball 34-percent of the time but was targeted 30-percent more often than Ingram for receptions. This breakdown between the two backs is ideal, as it highlights both of their strengths and made them a potent duo in 2017.

Both Kamara and Ingram can be feature backs or an RB1 on any team in the league. But the benefit for the Saints is that they have BOTH! Each of the backs was productive enough in 2017 to make the Pro Bowl and have more yards from scrimmage than any other running back duo in the history of the NFL.

Suffice it to say that Kamara’s production will decrease slightly from the massive workload in the first four weeks of the 2018 season, but this will only make one of the most potent offenses in the NFL even more electrifying.

Touchdown Pass:

I think the rumors of the Saints trading for Patrick Peterson are just that- rumors. According to Jay Glazer of The Athletic, the Cardinals have reportedly claimed that Peterson was “off-limits”. Plus, I don’t see the Saints giving up too many more picks from an already anemic 2019 draft.

Marshon Lattimore is back and taking snaps at practice according to The Advocate.

Alvin Kamara is my Saints Fantasy Football MVP this week. He should have a higher than usual workload in the flats this week because the Ravens’ front four is frightening. Expect them to shut down the power run game early.