Saints Roster: Realistic expectations for Mark Ingram in 2022
Mark Ingram rejoined the New Orleans Saints roster last season when a trade was made to bring him back to the team that drafted him. What’s to be expected of him in 2022?
With their first-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the New Orleans Saints selected Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mark Ingram out of Alabama. It took a few years for Ingram to show what made him a Heisman Trophy winner but in 2014, he put up the best season of his career to that point with 964 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.
From there, Ingram became a staple in the Saints’ offense and that’s why it was really hard to see him go when he was finally looking like a first-round running back. He joined the Ravens in 2019 and had a tremendous season in Baltimore before falling off in the 2020 season. The Ravens cut ties with him following the 2020 season and he signed with the Texans in 2021.
After Alvin Kamara was banged up and forced to miss a few games last season, the Saints ended up trading for Ingram and brought him back to New Orleans. He isn’t the same weapon he once was but he’s an awesome choice to have as a backup for Kamara.
Saints Roster: What are the expectations for Mark Ingram this year?
With Kamara potentially set to miss time due to a suspension, Ingram will be a huge factor in the offense. He started three games while Kamara was out last year and had at least 40 yards rushing in each game and at least 20 yards receiving in each of those games.
Once Kamara came back, Ingram’s role wasn’t as strong but that’s to be expected of a backup running back.
In Mike Clay of ESPN’s projections for the 2022 season, Ingram was projected to run for 463 yards and four touchdowns while also padding 112 yards receiving to his stat sheet. This would give him 575 total yards from scrimmage on the year, which some might be disappointed by but fans should remember that Ingram is 32 years old (he turns 33 in December) and is closer to the end of his career than the beginning.
A realistic expectation for Mark Ingram this year is that he starts the year off with some decent numbers but then might fade into the background a bit more as the season continues.
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What are you expecting from Ingram as he enters his 12th season in the league?