As expected, the NFL issued a suspension to New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara that will sideline him for three games to open the 2023 season. That’s a relief for the team after the initial expectation was that Kamara would have to sit out six or more matchups. We’ve discussed which games Kamara will miss but how much is this going to hurt wallet?
After agreeing to restructure his contract earlier this year — reducing his base salary to the veteran minimum and having the difference paid out as a signing bonus — Kamara was due to receive $1,080,000 in weekly game checks over the course of the season. He’ll forfeit three of those while serving this suspension, which is a total of $180,000.
Had he not restructured his contract (which accomplished the larger goal of freeing up 2023 salary cap space for the team), Kamara would now be losing $1,560,000. So he both helped the team by agreeing to be paid in a different structure and secured his money knowing this NFL discipline was likely to be handed down.
Of course Kamara also had to pay legal fees in settling his criminal and civil court cases in Nevada and Louisiana, respectively, where he agreed to a confidential settlement out of court with the alleged victim. He’s probably also seen fewer sponsorship opportunities with this incident casting a pall on him. But as Kamara himself pointed out, he doesn’t want anyone’s pity or sympathy — he knows he made a terrible mistake and he still feels the embarrassment of it. That’s going to outweigh any dollar figures thrown around.
