Report: Saints open to trading Alvin Kamara

UPDATE 5:17 p.m.: Kamara and his agent said they have not asked for or demanded a trade.

The New Orleans Saints and Alvin Kamara apparently aren’t seeing eye-to-eye in negotiating a contract extension. The Saints now say they are willing to trade the star running back, per Josina Anderson. Kamara has been holding out over the last few practices, as he doesn’t want to play the last year on his rookie deal, which would pay him $2.3 million this season.

Just today, Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon, who had been staging a “migraine” holdout, got his extension, paying him around $12 million a year. This appears to be in the range of what the Saints have on the table, per The Athletic’s Jeff Duncan. Of course, Kamara has put up incredible numbers in the Saints offense, far outshining Mixon’s output through his first three seasons.

At this point, we need to view this news as a negotiating tactic for the Saints. They are likely trying to gain some negotiating ground here, letting Kamara know they can live without him. Of course, the Saints are also in the last years of Drew Brees as a Super Bowl level quarterback and are very much Super Bowl or bust this season, which means they truly need Kamara, and now.

If Kamara does get traded, his absence would boost Latavius Murray and Ty Montgomery up your draft boards. Murray had a combined 48 carries for 221 yards and 3 touchdowns, and 14 catches for 86 yards and 1 receiving touchdown in the two games Kamara missed last season.

Kamara did send us a cryptic-tweet warning that this could get ugly: