Alvin Kamara Retructures Contract To Stay With New Orleans Saints: Fantasy Football Impact On Travis Etienne
Adam Pfeifer breaks down the news that Alvin Kamara is restructuring his contract with the New Orleans Saints, and the fantasy football impact on Travis Etienne.
For years, Alvin Kamara has made it abundantly clear that he wants to finish his career as a member of the New Orleans Saints.
It looks like he’s going to get his wish.
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Fantasy Football Outlook After Alvin Kamara Stays With The New Orleans Saints
According to former Saints LT Terron Armstead and Nick Underhill of New Orleans Football, the Saints and Kamara are finalizing a new deal that will keep him in New Orleans. It’ll be a restructured contract for the 2026 campaign. The last few months have been filled with speculation, and at many times, doubt surrounding Kamara’s future with the Saints. But he’ll remain a key piece of this backfield for this season, which certainly has fantasy implications.
The Saints signed Travis Etienne to a four-year, $52 million deal this offseason, making him the ninth-highest-paid running back in football. That commitment should lead to a starting role for Etienne, but Kamara’s official return absolutely hurts his overall fantasy ceiling.
At this stage of his career, I’m expecting Kamara to be deployed in a pass-catching, change-of-pace role. Once a lock for at least 4.5 yards per carry, Kamara’s efficiency has plummeted as of late. Since 2021, he has averaged just 3.8 YPC, while his ranks in yards per touch have left much to be desired:
2025: 4.0 (54th)
2024: 5.0 (21st)
2023: 4.5 (37th)
2022: 5.0 (25th)
2021: 4.7 (29th)
His tackle-breaking metrics have also fallen off, ranking below league average in rush attempts per broken tackle for four consecutive seasons. Now approaching age 31, perhaps Kamara is better suited as someone who gets 10-12 touches per contest, while handling a large chunk of the passing downs. And that is likely where he’ll still be more than serviceable. Since 2021, Kamara’s 1.54 yards per route run ranks eighth best among all running backs. Kamara siphoning pass-game usage from Etienne would be a serious problem, especially coming off Etienne’s involvement in Jacksonville a season ago.
Etienne was one of the top values in all of fantasy last season, really benefiting from Liam Coen’s RB-friendly scheme. He finished as a top-13 fantasy running back, largely propelled by schemed looks in the passing game. Etienne ranked third among running backs in screen routes (19), first in targets (12) and second in receptions (9), while scoring 6 receiving touchdowns, second to only Christian McCaffrey. Of his 52 targets from last year, 49 (94%) came on early downs, which tells me that most of his looks in the pass game were schemed up by Coen. He lost third-down work to LeQuint Allen, who ranked seventh in third-down routes, while logging 79% of the long-down-and-distance snaps, as well as 66% in the two-minute drill.
Etienne currently checks in as the RB18 in our consensus PPR rankings, but it’ll be interesting to see if this news pushes him down even further. We still love the pace of play in Kellen Moore’s offense, while goal-line work should be his. But the massive drop in expected targets limits Etienne’s ceiling in his new home.
As for Kamara? Well, now that we know for sure he’s staying in New Orleans, look for him to be one of the highest risers in ADP over the next week.
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