Alvin Kamara happened to enter the NFL and approach free agency at the right time — that is, before the league collectively decided to stop handing out significant extensions to veteran running backs.
The New Orleans Saints gave Kamara a five-year deal in 2020 and, like most clubs that gave new contracts to their RBs, have probably come to regret the deal, even though Kamara has played well so far in 2023.
What does Kamara’s contact with the Saints look like, and when could New Orleans think about parting ways?
From the current NFL standings to team depth charts to coverage of every game in the 18-week NFL schedule, we have all the news from around the league to keep you up to speed!
Alvin Kamara’s Contract Details and Bonuses
Kamara’s extension with the Saints didn’t come together in a breezy manner. He staged a mini-holdout at the end of the team’s 2020 training camp, and New Orleans was reportedly willing to trade Kamara had no deal come to fruition.
But the two sides eventually agreed to a deal just before the regular season began, hammering out a five-year, $75 million pact that contained $17.83 million in guaranteed money.
Kamara’s $15 million salary topped that of Dalvin Cook, who agreed to a $12.6 million per year extension with the Minnesota Vikings the same day Kamara re-upped with the Saints.
New Orleans gave Kamara a $22.4 million base salary for the 2025 season — a salary he will never actually earn — in order to artificially inflate the total value of the pact. NFL contracts are almost always backloaded, but not to the extent of Kamara’s.
Kamara became the NFL’s second-highest-paid running back behind Christian McCaffrey. Three years later, he’s still No. 2 at the position, even though other RBs like Jonathan Taylor and Nick Chubb have inked extensions in the meantime.
The Saints have already restructured Kamara’s contract twice, pushing money into the future in order to create immediate salary cap space.
Additionally, Kamara was suspended for the first three games of the 2023 NFL season, which voided his future guarantees. However, Kamara only had roughly $1 million in remaining guarantees at the time of his ban.
Thus far, Kamara has collected roughly $29.33 million (39.1%) of his total contract value. Let’s break down the remaining years of Kamara’s deal:
2023
- Base salary: $900,000
- Signing bonus proration: $3 million
- Restructure proration: $2.09 million
- Cap hit: $7.98 million
- Yearly cash: $10.82 million
- Running cash: $40.15 million
2024
- Base salary: $10.2 million
- Roster bonus: $1 million
- Workout bonus: $100,000
- Per-game roster bonuses: $500,000
- Signing bonus proration: $3 million
- Restructure proration: $4.077 million
- Cap hit: $18.88 million
- Yearly cash: $11.8 million
- Running cash: $51.95 million
2025
- Base salary: $22.4 million
- Roster bonus: $2 million
- Workout bonus: $100,000
- Per-game roster bonuses: $500,000
- Restructure proration: $4.077 million
- Cap hit: $29.08 million
- Yearly cash: $25 million
- Running cash: $76.95 million
2026-27
The Saints used void years from 2026-27. These are essentially dummy seasons that don’t even have a base salary listed.
If Kamara makes it all the way to the end of his contract getting cut, extended, or restructured (unlikely), New Orleans will have to account for more than $6 million in dead money in 2026.
When Could the Saints Cut Alvin Kamara?
The Saints could conceivably release Kamara as soon as the 2024 offseason. He’ll be entering his age-29 campaign, and teams generally like to offboard veteran running backs around that time.
New Orleans would almost surely have to designate Kamara as a post-June 1 cut in 2024. If the club released him without conditions, it would have to absorb more than $17 million in dead money. That might be a problem for an organization already projected to be more than $70 million over the 2024 salary cap.
MORE: New Orleans Saints Depth Chart 2023
A post-June 1 release would allow the Saints to spread that dead cap over the next two seasons: $7.07 million in 2024 and $10.4 million in 2025.
If New Orleans does want to cut Kamara next offseason, they’ll have a deadline in mind. Kamara has a $1 million roster bonus due on March 22, 2024. The Saints won’t want to pay that if they plan to cut him, so Kamara would likely be released before that date.