By: Jake Rajala

The NFL gods have gifted the league with many talented running backs. Derrick Henry won Offensive Player of The Year in 2020 and Jonathan Taylor was a Top 5 OPOY candidate in 2021. There is still a lot of meat on the bone for RB success in the professional football league in my opinion.

There are many supreme RBs that have been injured or underperformed in recent memory. Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey have been banged up, while Ezekiel Elliot hasn’t been overly impressive in each of the past two seasons. Alvin Kamara also had a strange, slightly disappointing season in a Saints offense that unveiled musical chairs at OL.

I believe the outlook of Kamara is very enticing because I believe he holds the most mysterious outlook. He is almost 27 years old, facing a suspension, and he’s been playing behind an uncertain OL. With that said, I’m going to unfold the outlook of AK.

• Alvin Kamara

I don’t love the idea of AK being the “old Kamara” for next season, to say the least. The Saints lost Terron Armstead, who was arguably their top OL last season. Armstead missed 9 games last season and Kamara “coincidentally” unveiled a career-low 3.7 YPC (his previous career-low was 4.6 YPC). I expect NO to address the LT spot with their extra first-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, but I believe a potential rookie LT will be a step below Armstead in 2022. More importantly, I fully expect Kamara to likely miss six games next season because of his unfortunate incident in Las Vegas.

I expect Kamara to always be heavily in the backfield in the passing game and noticeably more effective with Ingram “after 2022”. I believe the Saints knew he would be really involved for a long time when they gave him a massive contract extension in 2020. Kamara had a modest 33.8 receiving yards per game last season and I expect that tally to be his floor moving forward. His 2022 season is uncertain, while Ingram is a major sleeper in my opinion.

Nonetheless, Kamara is really an amazing worker and he should keep a unique role in Pete Carmichael’s offense as a legit passing threat (and RB weapon) for 4-5 more seasons in my opinion.

AK finished as the RB1 in 2020 and he took a significant dip in 2021. I don’t expect him to return as a Top 5 RB without Armstead and Payton, but he should be a stud in a sexier offense in 2023 and beyond. He’s currently ranked as the 10th best RB in dynasty (PPR) via Fantasy Pros. I would put him at number 8 right now (ahead of Dalvin Cook and Antonio Gibson). I believe his number 1 ranking in 2020 was a big part of the success of his Top 3 RT Ryan Ramczyk. It’s not talked about enough how his absence in 2021 (missed seven games) affected Kamara.

The Saints very athletic guard Andrus Peat also missed “11 games” last season.

I really expect Kamara to be excellent as an all-purpose RB with a healthier OL and an older Ingram beyond his probable six-game suspension next season.

The post What is the dynasty outlook of Alvin Kamara? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram was delighted to return to The Big Easy in 2021. Ingram was reunited with the team that drafted him and he even made Brandin Cooks jealous that he was back in the Black and Gold.

Ingram had four seasons of 700+ rushing yards, 50+ rushing touchdowns with the Saints prior to joining the Ravens. He’s currently the Saints all-time leading rusher in yards and touchdowns. It’s clear that he was a pillar of consistency and a key part of the Drew Brees-led offense throughout his Saints tenure. Furthermore, the Saints were thankful and full of bliss when they were able to bring him home last season.

Ingram was brought in as the backup to Alvin Kamara last season, but he looked like a fine 1B in many contests. Ingram averaged 3.8 YPC, but I believe that’s an impressive stat given how broken the Saints offensive line was in 2021. Alvin Kamara yielded a career-low 3.7 YPC last season.

According to NFL.com, Ingram averaged 5.2 YPC from September, October, and November combined. Ingram was clearly explosive and hitting the hole well when the offensive line was playing modest at worst. The last two times Ingram averaged 4.9+ YPC in a 16 game season, he made the Pro Bowl. Ingram also averaged 19.7 receiving yards per game with the Saints last season, which was his highest receiving YPG since 2017.

To be fair, a player is judged for how they perform in 16 games and not 12 games. Although, it needs to point out how porous and crippled the Saints offense was in December.

Ingram and the rest of the offense took a major dip in December. The Saints played the Buccaneers and Dolphins in two of the four games in December, as Who Dat Nation watched their offense mightily struggle. Injuries and COVID really haunted the Saints offense late in 2021. Ingram only mustered out a 2.4 YPC in December, as the offense completely sputtered out late in the season.

The Saints OT tandem, which is arguably the best in the NFL, missed a combined 16 games last season. Matter, in fact, the Saints had a record of 58 different starters last season. It would be an understatement to say it was tough sledding for the Saints RB tandem in 2021, especially in the cold month of December.

I believe Ingram was fresh, explosive, and in sync with the scheme that he knew all too well. Ingram was very efficient in 2021, but I believe he can be “very productive” in 2022.

The Saints will likely lose Alvin Kamara to a six-game suspension next season. He will clearly be the bell-cow in Kamara’s shoes the expected six-plus games in 2022. The universe/football gods shouldn’t deal consistent blows to the Saints offensive line, particularly against Ryan Ramcyzyk, who’s only missed one game prior to 2021. Musical chairs will most likely not be on the menu for the Saints OL in 2022.

Finally, the Saints should have a healthy Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas in their offense moving forward. The Saints won’t march into contests where opposing defenses fill the box and show no worry of the Saints passing attack. Expect the Saints 2011 NFL draft from Alabama pick to run strong next season and help his team push for their second taste of Super Bowl triumph.

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