Running back Alvin Kamara helped the New Orleans Saints to the NFC playoffs in each of his first four years. They haven’t been there in the three seasons since.
The Saints have shown a penchant for starting well. They own the NFL’s longest active streak of Week 1 victories (five years) entering Sunday’s opener against Carolina (1 p.m. ET, FOX). But they haven’t shown the same urgency at season’s end. Kamara wants that to change both to help his team and, frankly, because he’s not getting any younger.
“I feel like there is no time to waste,” he told John DeShazier of NewOrleansSaints.com, “because let’s just say I’m at the halfway point, if I were to play 16 years. Or 10 years, I’m on the back end of my career. I don’t want to waste no time.
“I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘I’ve got time, I’ve got time.’ Ain’t no time, so I’m trying to run it up. I’m trying to do what I can to have the most success. And in this league, we measure success by Super Bowls and playing in February. That’s what I’m trying to get to.”
That Super Bowl this season is also where Kamara and the Saints kick off Sunday, the newly renovated Caesars Superdome. And if the Saints are going to get there, they’ll need Kamara, Derek Carr, Chris Olave and Taysom Hill in the 49ers-style offense under new coordinator Klint Kubiak.
In what could be his last season in New Orleans, Kamara could also become the first running back in NFL history to reach 75 receptions in six of his career seasons. Whether Kamara can return to the Pro Bowl form of his early NFL career is a key question as the Saints begin a pivotal season.