Alvin Kamara's status with the Saints? 'We're getting close' - ESPN

Katherine Terrell May 18, 2026, 04:33 PM ET

Close Katherine Terrell came back to ESPN to cover the New Orleans Saints in the summer of 2022. She left the company in 2019 after joining in 2016 to cover the Cincinnati Bengals. Katherine is a graduate of LSU and a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native, and she has covered the NFL since 2013.

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NEW ORLEANS -- The New Orleans Saints are "getting close" to figuring out their plans for running back Alvin Kamara, according to coach Kellen Moore.

Kamara, who turns 31 on July 25, is due $11.5 million in the final season of his contract. His long-term status has remained unclear following the signing of free agent running back Travis Etienne Jr., who signed a four-year deal averaging $11.8 million.

"Part of the offseason process during Phase 3 is you're still going through a little bit of the building process, you're still finalizing some things, and so that comes with time," Moore said. "We understand that during OTAs... naturally there's different things popping up in Phase 3, but yeah, we're getting close."

Moore has said multiple times that the team will go through "the offseason process" regarding Kamara and his role and said at rookie camp that the Saints will continue to evaluate their roster.

Kamara has not attended the voluntary portion of the offseason program in several years, skipping OTAs and showing up to mandatory minicamp in June. The contract extension he signed in October of the 2024 season has a de-escalator that reduces his base salary by $358,000 if he does not attend 100% of OTAs.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said OTAs coming up present some sort of deadline to get things done, but not a "hard and fast" one. He said Kamara's status is related to his contract.

The Saints have several options they could attempt to pursue, whether that's approaching Kamara for a pay cut, releasing him after June 1 or trading him. If they keep him at his current contract, he will count $10.4 million against the salary cap. Releasing him after June 1 would save $3.3 million in 2026 cap space.

"We're just trying to see how he's going to fit in our roster, and obviously there's a resource management element to it, and we'll get to that over the next week or two," Loomis said.