METAIRIE, La. — Alvin Kamara appears to be making a late push for a contract extension.
The New Orleans Saints running back has been an unexcused absence from training camp since Friday, and it is believed to be contract-related, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Saints coach Sean Payton has declined to specify the reason for any player absences in recent days since teams are not required to release injury reports during camp.
Kamara is scheduled to make $2.133 million in the final year of his rookie contract. He reported for the start of training camp and participated for the first several weeks, insisting at the time that he was not focused on his contract.
The running back said he had even instructed his agent, “Don’t tell me anything about a contract until it’s like something where it’s happening or there’s something I need to know.”
“It’ll happen when it happens,” Kamara said at the time. “It’s never been something … like I didn’t come in [to the NFL] thinking about like, ‘Ooh, I can’t wait ’til I get a contract.’ It’s like, ‘I’m playing, and when that comes, it’s gonna be well deserved and it’s gonna be perfect timing for it.’ It’s just not something that’s at the forefront of my day. It’s not something I wake up thinking about.”
It’s unclear what changed — and whether Kamara’s absence means the two sides are getting closer to an extension or further apart.
The 25-year-old Kamara will likely seek a deal worth somewhere between the new deals signed during the offseason by fellow running backs Christian McCaffrey ($16 million per year) and Derrick Henry ($12.5 million), though that leaves a pretty wide disparity in between.
Kamara has been running neck-and-neck with McCaffrey as the two best young dual-threat running backs in the league — starting in 2017, when he beat out McCaffrey for the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award as a third-round draft pick out of Tennessee.
Kamara had 728 rushing yards, 826 receiving yards and 14 total touchdowns that year. His numbers increased to 883 rushing yards, 709 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns in 2018.
However, last year Kamara was hampered by knee and ankle injuries that forced him to miss two games and play “on one leg” for the final three months once he returned. He finished with 797 rushing yards, a career-low 533 receiving yards and a career-low six touchdowns.
Kamara said he is healthy now, and coaches have praised him for looking like his old self early in camp.