The New Orleans Saints have lost five straight games, suffered an embarrassing 33-10 home loss to the Denver Broncos (4-3) on Thursday night and could be without starting quarterback Derek Carr for at least a couple more contests due to an oblique injury.
Thus, it makes sense that Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio suggested on Friday that the Saints could make star running back Alvin Kamara available to contenders ahead of the Nov. 5 trade deadline.
“His contract carries a $25M compensation package for 2025,” Florio wrote about Kamara. “He’ll be released after the season without a revised deal. If that happens, the Saints will get no compensation.”
It seemed that once Kamara made it known this past summer he was unhappy about the status of his contract that he and the Saints were headed toward a breakup. That was before former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams essentially chose the New York Jets over the Saints for a trade and before Kamara publicly said that the team’s Thursday performance against Denver was “unacceptable.”
The Saints play at the Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) in Week 8 and then will be away against the Carolina Panthers (1-5) in Week 9 before the trade deadline arrives. Unless New Orleans wins both of those games to get to 4-5, punting on the remainder of the campaign may be what’s best for the future of the franchise beyond January 2025.
Florio named the Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys as teams that could send “a draft pick or two” to New Orleans to have Kamara as a rental through the upcoming postseason tournament. Of those potential landing spots, the Cowboys may be the most likely to complete a trade sooner rather than later considering owner and general manager Jerry Jones left little doubt earlier this week he’s quite frustrated with the state of his 3-3 club.
The Saints offered no real sign on Thursday night that they are close to righting the ship. They theoretically would get more for Kamara if they traded him early next week, rather than after Nov. 3, but it remains to be seen if they’ll make such a season-defining decision before Week 8.
