Last Sunday evening FNIA Looking back on the day that wasI praised Saints running back Alvin Kamara for his great start to the season, even though he will likely be released after the season. Some were surprised by this comment.
But that’s really no surprise. For anyone who doesn’t follow the various contractual nuances affecting a wide range of players at any given time, certain realities can seem surreal. Like, for example, the idea of the Saints releasing Kamara after this season, no matter how well things are going for him or her.
The problem lies in the $25 million compensation package he’s set to receive next year. That was never a real number; the goal was to pump his APY to $15 million. And that worked, as did the fake final year of Tyreek Hill’s original Dolphins contract, which drove the APY to $30 million.
As the saying goes, a lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on. When it comes to contracts whose annual values are inflated by last year’s false talk, the truth can have armor, a horse, a lance and a flaming sword, and most will ignore it.
It’s a reckoning for the Saints and Kamara. He will be released after the season, without a new contract. He wanted to get a new contract before the current season; at one point he walked out of the team’s mandatory minicamp to express his dissatisfaction.
Eventually he accepted the fact that he had no choice but to play well and hope the Saints make him an offer he can’t refuse. If not, he will look to maximize his money elsewhere.
Maybe in Denver, for a possible reunion with Sean Payton, the man who selected him in the third round in 2017.
It would be easy to assume that a successful 2024 for Kamara would also equate to a big contract in 2025. But the challenge for Kamara is to prove that he is still capable of doing so after this year.
He turns 30 next July, so no matter what he does this season, the calendar will be the strongest counter to what he hopes to earn in 2025 and beyond.
That’s certainly why he tried to get the deal done this year. Next year, when the witching hour of every running back’s career approaches, it might take even more than a fake final season to get a fair-market deal again.
