Having inked a two-year, $24 million extension with the Saints in October of 2024, he’s due $3 million in guaranteed money in the final year of his deal but holds a $10.4 cap number.
When Etienne was signed to a four-year, $52 million deal in March, it pointed to Kamara’s days in the Big Easy being done. Should New Orleans release him, the Saints will incur a dead money hit of $10 million and save only $376,000 on the salary cap as a post-June 1 release. However, he would save the team $11.1 million on the 2027 cap. A pre-June 1 release seems unfathomable as it would leave the Saints with a $24.3 million dead money hit and cost them $13.9 million on the cap.
While everyone else has been anticipating Kamara’s New Orleans exit, he’s been in Miami training, he said, and has high hopes for the Saints’ 2026 campaign, particularly after Shough had an impressive rookie season.
“There are going to be high expectations now,” Kamara said.
Kamara’s played all nine of his NFL seasons with the Saints, going to five Pro Bowls and scoring 536 points — the most in the franchise’s history by a non-kicker — while becoming the club’s all-time leading rusher with 7,250 yards.
The talented all-purpose back said last season he’d “go drink a pina colada somewhere” if the Saints traded him, rather than play for another team.
Though he was hardly emphatic when speaking with Armstead, it seems unlikely that Kamara intends to retire. Instead he’s planning — and hoping — to play his 10th NFL season in the same place as the previous nine.
Head coach Kellen Moore previously avoided directly discussing what could be ahead with Kamara and the club, but later said it could be a great situation to have Etienne and Kamara as part of the same backfield stable.
It would seem as though the top of June will be the earliest to determine if Kamara is back with the Saints for another year or has a career decision to make.
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