Former Tennessee Vols running back Alvin Kamara is in a tough spot this offseason.

Kamara, a third round selection by the New Orleans Saints in the 2017 NFL Draft, turns 31 in July. He’s undoubtedly nearing the end of his career, but he’s not ready to retire quite yet.

Unfortunately for Kamara, he may not have a choice.

The Saints clearly want to move on from Alvin Kamara, but they can’t pull the trigger just yet

It’s obvious this offseason that New Orleans either wants to move on from Kamara or they want him to take a drastic pay cut.

The Saints signed Travis Etienne, who is four years younger than Kamara, in March to be their No. 1 running back.

Kamara made it clear during an appearance on Terron Armstead’s “The Set” podcast that he’s excited to play with Etienne in 2026.

“I’ve watched him in Jacksonville these past couple years,” said Kamara. “He’s explosive. He hits home runs. He did it in college. Strong dude, seems smart. I’m excited to see what we can do together.”

“I think a lot of people be thinking there’s beef or something when moves like this happen. And it’s like, I couldn’t be happier,” added Kamara. “One, my boy got paid. And two, it ain’t nothing but some help in the backfield. That’s the name of the game. Depth. He got paid and we got help in the backfield. I’m cool with it. One person can’t do it by themselves. So, I’m cool with it, man.”

The Saints, however, don’t sound excited to have Kamara back. And as a result, Kamara is in football purgatory right now. He doesn’t know if he’ll be back with the Saints this fall, or if he’ll be getting a head start on retirement (things can change, but Kamara indicated last year that he doesn’t want to play for another team).

“We’re just trying to see how he’s going to fit on our roster,” said Saints general manager Mickey Loomis on Monday when asked about Kamara. “Obviously there’s a resource management element to it. We’ll get to that over the next week or two.”

Kamara has stuck with the Saints through some rough seasons. He’s always been all-in on the city of New Orleans. It’s a business at the end of the day. If the Saints think the best thing for their franchise is to move on from Kamara, then I get it.

But at least be straight up with Kamara. He’s one of the greatest players in franchise history (he’s the Saints’ all-time leading rusher). Kamara deserves better than to be strung along into May only to be a post-June 1 roster cut (or whatever decision ends up being made by New Orleans).

Just because it’s a business doesn’t mean the Saints can’t give Kamara some clarity on his future. He deserves it with all that he’s given to New Orleans over the last nine years.