Though the New Orleans Saints are coming off their first win of the season, there isn't much reason to believe that this team is a contender. The Saints absolutely must start focusing on the future, even though we're not even halfway through the season. That may even include dealing franchise mainstays, like Alvin Kamara. It's a massive storyline to follow before the trade deadline.
There are plenty of reasons it makes sense to trade Kamara, with one big caveat to any deal being his contract of course. But, if you read the tea leaves over the past few weeks, the Saints appear ready to make a shift at the position.
Enter: Kendre Miller.
The Saints' actions prove they have been preparing for an eventual Kendre Miller takeover
If you take a look at what Kellen Moore and this offensive staff have done in recent weeks, it isn't hard to see that they're preparing to move on from Kamara.
Miller's opportunities have gone from five in Week 1, to six in Week 2, nine in Week 3 and 11 in each of the past two games through Week 5.
The opportunities line up with his increase in snap percentage, too, as Miller has gone from 15 percent of snaps in Week 1 to 27 percent in Week 3 and just last week against the Giants, he played a season-high 39 percent.
If you are at all involved in the fantasy football community, you are starting to hear more and more about Miller's ascension, too. This isn't by accident. It makes all the sense in the world. The Saints want to see exactly what they have in Miller before they have to make a decision, contract-wise.
Miller has done plenty to earn his stake as the Saints' future starting running back. And, as the next couple of weeks play out, we're going to continue seeing that trend until eventually, the Saints part ways with Kamara.
Look, at the end of the day, Kamara is 30 years old and the Saints need to get out from under all the financial stress they've put on themselves over the past few seasons. In addition to that, this is a team with several holes. Draft capital should be at a premium, thus, a Kamara trade is coming.