One of the more intriguing projects we’ll see each summer is what ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler found in asking NFL executives, coaches, scouts, and players to rank the best players at each position group — an annual exercise that always leads to spirited discussion and maybe some changing perspectives.
On Friday Fowler shared his takeaways for the league’s top running backs, having ranked New Orleans Saints standout Alvin Kamara at No. 7 overall. The highest ballot from Fowler’s survey put Kamara at No. 3, while at least one voter didn’t rank him top-10 at all. So why are opinions so split on him?
“Losing Sean Payton and Drew Brees really hurt him,” one AFC scout told Fowler. “But the skill set is still one of the best. I haven’t seen a dropoff there.”
Fowler noted that Kamara has racked up 463 rushing attempts the last two years without reaching 900 rushing yards in either season. His production as a receiver has dovetailed, too, with both of Kamara’s Brees-less seasons seeing him post fewer than 500 receiving yards (after posting more than 700 yards through the air in each of the three previous years). But maybe the arrival of Derek Carr will be good for him.
ESPN quoted an anonymous NFL personnel director, who said: “Still has very good feet, agility and change-of-direction skills. Has good initial burst as a runner on feel on both outside and inside runs. Still has some of the best contact balance, though he’s not an elite power guy, doesn’t have elite top-end speed and will eventually lose a half-step. Still a matchup problem as a route runner.”
There have been two major problems for Kamara’s usage in recent years: an overabundance of carries running up the middle and into the teeth of the defense (behind an interior offensive line often missing starters due to injury) and a scarcity of the screen plays that Kamara ran so well. Whether the Saints haven’t trusted their linemen to get out in front and execute those plays or their quarterbacks haven’t shown enough touch and timing on their passes in practices to pull them off, it’s been a serious issue. Hopefully Carr can help clean up at least one of those areas.
