McCaffrey’s new contract sets bar for Kamara

In all aspects of business, there comes a time of reckoning.

Owners and bosses must decide how to best distribute assets, to share wealth to best accrue wealth.

The NFL is big business, very big business.

The economic impact causes tremors on so many levels of society.

The salary cap for all teams is in place to police fair play, to create a level playing field.

Each of the 32 teams must play by the rules.

In doing so, each team must decide which of their assets are most important.

There are four levels to consider.

1) Those who are must have players
2) Those who are desirable but not essential
3) Those who are marginal
4) Those that you move on from

Where does Alvin Kamara fit in?

With the departure of Mark Ingram, Kamara’s stock rose in 2019.

With his performance on the field, Kamara’s stock did not rise in 2019 but he remains crucial to the future success of the New Orleans Saints.

Kamara played hurt last season and the performance and results were obvious.

Kamara is entering the final year of his rookie contract, which turned out to be a tremendous bargain for the Saints at $2,133 million.

Kamara will undoubtedly seek a long term contract and he will get one, eventually, from some NFL squad.

My guess is that it will come from the Saints, not from another team, though nothing is certain.

The Saints have already invested in Drew Brees. They have invested in Cam Jordan. They have invested in Michael Thomas. They paid Andrus Peat and took care of Wil Lutz. They retained David Onyemata and P.J. Williams.

Still to come in the next two years are decisions on deals with Demario Davis, Taysom Hill, Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Sheldon Rankins and Jared Cook, among others.

You cannot pay everyone top dollar.

Ezekiel Elliott was the highest paid running back in the league until Monday.

Elliott is operating on a six year, $90 million deal with the Cowboys which includes a $7.5 million signing bonus with just over $50 million guaranteed and an average salary of $15 million. Elliott is earning a base salary of $6.8 million and a signing bonus of $13 million. The cap hit on Dallas is $10.9 million and the cap value is $35.4 million.

Christian McCaffrey, who arrived in Carolina in the same draft (first round, eighth overall pick in 2017) as Kamara (third round, 67th overall pick in 2016), became the highest paid running back in the NFL, signing a 4-year, $64 million deal with the Panthers, making him the highest paid running back in league history. The deal averages out to six years and $12.5 million per year.

At the age of 23, McCaffrey had a sensational season in 2019, amassing 2,392 total yards and 19 touchdowns, despite playing for a losing team. He rushed 287 times for 1,387 yards and 15 touchdowns and caught 116 passes for 1,005 yards and four touchdowns. McCaffrey has rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons.

Sean Payton loved McCaffrey but knew he would not have the ability to select him in the draft. He saw Kamara as a similar player with value. He targeted him, got him, and got what he hoped for, perhaps even more than he expected, from the Tennessee product.

The two players are similar in stature and ability. McCaffrey has more straight line speed while Kamara is as elusive, if not more so than McCaffrey.

While Kamara has been very good, McCaffrey has been exceptional.

McCaffrey has accumulated 2,920 yards rushing and 2,523 yards receiving with 39 touchdowns in his three seasons. McCaffrey is the only player in league history with at least 2,500 yards rushing and receiving in his first three seasons in the league.

McCaffrey is just the third player in NFL history to have 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season, joining San Francisco’s Roger Craig (1985) and New Orleanian Marshall Faulk (1999) of Indianapolis.

Kamara has accumulated 2,408 yards rushing and 2,068 yards receiving with 37 touchdowns in his three seasons.

McCaffrey broke NFL records for most receptions by a running back in each of his last two seasons, catching 107 passes in 2018 and 117 in 2019. He played 93.5 percent of Carolina’s offensive snaps this past season. Another number to like is that McCaffrey has not missed a game in his three seasons.

Conversely, Kamara played 58.7 percent of New Orleans snaps in 2019.

The argument in today’s NFL is that running backs are bad investments, that their life span is short and the productivity dramatically changes in quick-change fashion, as some point.

That has proven to be true for many but not true for others.

No one can predict injuries, though you do not want to invest in a player with a substantive injury history.

No one wants to invest in a player who is not a character, hard working player who is not respected by teammates.

In his rookie season of 2017, Kamara was more productive than McCaffrey, despite splitting time with Ingram.

Kamara rushed 120 times for 728 yards, averaging an amazing 6.1 yards per carry to lead the NFL and scored eight touchdowns. He caught 81 passes for 826 yards and five touchdowns. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Kamara was brilliant in 2018, rushing 194 times for 883 yards and 14 touchdowns and caught 81 passes for 709 yards and four touchdowns.

The 2019 season was a step back, though Kamara was still very productive.

He rushed 171 times for 797 yards and five touchdowns. While Kamara caught 81 passes, as he did in each of his previous two seasons, it was for just 533 yards and one touchdown. Kamara has made the Pro Bowl in each of his three seasons.

In his rookie season, McCaffrey rushed just 117 times for 435 yards and two touchdowns and caught 80 passes for 651 yards and five touchdowns.

McCaffrey broke out in his second season with 219 carries for 1,098 yards and seven touchdowns and caught 107 passes for 867 yards and six touchdowns.

In 2019, McCaffrey was arguably the second best player in the league behind Lamar Jackson with 287 carries for 1,387 yards and 15 touchdowns with 116 catches for 1,005 yards and four touchdowns as McCaffrey earned first team All-Pro honors while making the Pro Bowl for the first time.

The possibility of a holdout by Kamara is a concern but if the Saints truly value him, it will not matter.

When the Saints did not bring Ingram back, they were committing, all in on Kamara, who will be 25 this NFL season.

While running backs have shorter shelf lives and are considered replaceable on most fronts, the best of the best are elite and are not replaceable.

It is hard to believe that a year down the road, that mindset has changed.

The guess here is that the Saints value Kamara as the option one “must have” player and retain him on a long-term deal similar to the deals of Elliott, McCaffrey and Le’Veon Bell of the Jets as the Saints bet on Kamara being healthier, rebounding and closing the gap or matching the productivity of McCaffrey, who has now set the bar after Kamara did so in his rookie season.