When the New Orleans Saints added former Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Travis Etienne, most saw it as a sign that the Alvin Kamara era was over in the Big Easy.
Not so fast. Coach Kellen Moore believes there is plenty of room for both of them in the Saints offense in 2026.
“We love Alvin. He means the world to all of us,” Moore said at the annual meeting in Phoenix, via the Saints’ official site. “It’s a full offseason process. We feel like he’s in that room. You can find a role for all these different guys. We go through the whole offseason process and continue to grow and develop this team.
“He’s definitely on the roster and part of that backroom. We feel like we can manage all of those guys and put them in a lot of situations. Look at our season last year, probably look at almost every NFL season — plenty of quarterbacks. We feel fortunate that we were able to sign Travis in free agency, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Kamara is coming off the worst season of his career in 2025, an injury-shortened campaign hampered by a Saints offense that didn’t find its rhythm until the last six weeks of the year, which Kamara missed most of the time. Rumors began to swirl that Kamara could be headed for retirement in 2026, and when Moore was asked about the five-time Pro Bowler’s future in mid-March, he danced around the question.
Monday’s response represents a change in tone toward a more optimistic outlook.
New Orleans could certainly use a stronger position in the backfield. The Saints finished 28th in rushing per game in 2025 and leaned heavily on the passing game. It should be up to them to find a better balance, make more sense with the addition of Etienne, and it helps that the two share a similar style of play.
Add in the return of youngsters Devin Neal and Audric Estimé — with the latter serving as the Saints’ rugged power back — and Moore has plenty of options behind or alongside quarterback Tyler Shough.
“They’re probably similar players,” Moore said of Kamara and Etienne. “I think both of them have the explosiveness, the elusive ability to play at all three levels, which is helpful. I feel like our running back room is a really healthy room right now — just with the depth and the experience and all the guys that are in there.
“The way last season went, a lot of those guys got experience. A lot of those guys played football. So it’s going to be a benefit for us that we got some guys — three or four guys — that played meaningful snaps last year that are all coming back. And then you throw Travis into the mix and it’s a great situation for us.”
For now, the Saints seem intent on establishing a back-and-forth between the 30-year-old Kamara (who turns 31 in July) and the younger Etienne, with room for reps for Estime and Neal. We’ll see if that’s still the case when training camp comes around.