No Alvin Kamara: No Problem or Big Problem?

Intro so in light of recent commentary reports um possibility Alvin sitting out what happens if he does will the Saints adjust by leveraging their existing running backs that that are still on the roster trying to get more touches out of them optimally or is Clint kubak gonna have to change out of the planned wide Zone that they're doing and do something a little different with the scheme to fit the players he has or could we be looking at free agents who knows I'm Tim let's talk Saints so it seems uh we're heading towards possibly some type of hold out for training camp by Alvin um but not confirmed as of July 20th at Saturday afternoon while I'm recording this so hopefully I get to delete this without ever showing it to anybody but we'll see um really hoping they reach some type of agreement soon and right now I'm not optimistic um you know I've already done the video where you know admit I can see both sides of their issues and hope hoping in that video that hey get to the compromise find the right deal in years that we can make sure Alvin's here this year hopefully but it's looking less and less likely ready to go for a training camp uh but we we'll see how it I understand both sides we'll see how it plays out so there's still a chance maybe all this gets worked out but right now really the priority for uh the Saints I think well if we can't work this out now it's not here what we're going to do and so that's I think it's the fans uh that's what we're wondering the most going okay as this gets closer and closer it could be a possibility what does the organization do what what can we expect what we can kind of look forward to Kendre Miller um really looking at at five running backs as of when I looked this morning um who's still show on the Saints official website as running backs um I think we're gonna have to start with kendre Miller who was our thir third round pick for us last year out of out of TCU um by all accounts he's expected to be fully healthy and ready to go um for this season because he had an injury right at the end of his in the playoffs in his college career slowed him down a little bit last off seon and then in the season couple other injuries happen very limited action but I think a lot of people liked what they saw in that very small sample size and I think the the expectation is is that he's more than capable of coming in efficiently and effectively run this scheme and and be productive um then I think the next two guys you're going to have to talk about and I think this is kind of like the first group that's going to group we're GNA we would have to rely on uh Jamal Jamaal Williams Williams 2017 to 2020 in Green Bay 21 and 22 in Detroit um I mean 22 had been Johnson as OC and that's when he had his really his best year of his n NFL career and Then followed up with his worst last year for us um experienc in this gamee because Green Bay or versions of this game because Green Bay when he was there was a sort of like the Saints maybe even or maybe even slightly leaning more towards a Zone over a gap scheme did both but when Ben Johnson had him he was primarily an inside Zone Runner but again exposed to other other stuff and none of them run including us nobody R runs the version of Frisco or one of the offshoots so very hard to compare him directly but it's similar enough that that somebody who's been exposed to it I think is the adjustment period is not that hard for him Miller uh Williams and then Robinson James Robinson um undrafted free agent by the Jags in 2020 and had a very good year as a rookie ended up ripping the starting job away and the coach staff got fired so in 2021 Urban Meer comes in I don't even know if we really need to talk about that um that was bad all the way around and urban didn't even make it through a full season but he had some bad hard luck was Forest coaching everything else in those first two seasons and he was pretty good 2022 he got traded to the Jets when the jackville had their third coaching staff in three years roll in where he tore his Achilles uh very early in the season I think it was four games in wiped out his season 2023 um he was signed and cut during during 2023 by the Patriots the Giants and the Packers we signed to the practice squad December of 2023 very late in the season and he's still here he's one of the interesting ones because it could very well be that that 2023 um may have been because of lingering effects from the Achilles injuries uh the year before not everybody recovers the same even in the modern day of um medical technology and Rehabilitation and all that stuff sometimes it happens sometimes they never come back so he could be in that boat but he might be um I think there's a small some percentage I don't want to put it up size on it but there's a percentage that just aren't the same guys never recover there's a percentage obviously that does and then there's a percentage that doesn't it may take him a year longer a lot of people expect it back in within a year these type of injuries major ones like this sometimes it may take two maybe he recovers that ability he was shown in Jacksonville he James Robinson's just been a hard luck bad luck guy and hopefully his luck changes a little bit in 2024 the last two are mims uh Jordan Jordan Mims & Jacob Kibodi Mims and Jacob caldi who are both undrafted free agents mims in 2023 and buffalo and we got a hold of him last year uh I assuming off waivers are I actually didn't go look it up but he's been around the Saints for a little bit now and then the Saints um signed undrafted free agent Jacob kabot uh from UL right over there at layette um this year not a whole lot on either one of those two guys and I don't think it's necessary to go look at those two guys because it and and I don't mean that in a disparaging way or anything by any stretch of imagination it's just at a certain point when it comes to the NFL and running backs it's a position that's been deemphasized over the years so oddly enough you can get much like a um a James Robinson did as an undrafted free agent sneaked through Jacksonville picks him up in 2020 and he has a fantastic year uh so I'm just meaning it of the fact that because it's devalued it's hard to get information on the guys that end up becoming undrafted typically they just don't have a high draft profile and I kind of looked at both of them and there really wasn't much there um readily available that you could find easy that's the way I should really talk about this but they can surprise um so we'll find out in training camp but really what I'm I'm just mostly interested in what what I did dig in and even on those guys and I it's probably unnecessary for those two guys I think anybody coming out of college in the last five or six years has a significant exposure to some part or type of the Zone scheme inside outside some version of it uh I don't know if there's a college anywhere left in the the whole system from division one uh playoff teams all the way down to to the the very uh smallest school out there still runs heavy if Gap scheme or only Gap scheme so I think at anytime after 2017 basically you've you have enough experience in the in the The Zone scheme where that what they're trying to install right now with the Saints ain't causing you much problems as far as getting the concepts and and uh being able to convert whatever terminology there us it into the one you were used to when you were last in it wherever it was so I think we're okay there as far as as that that there's no going to be no fish out of waters out of this fish out of water in this group that has no clue what's going on so which is a good thing I think the other thing we we really need to talk about um is a potential because more than Solution Likely on Roster likely I'm G tell you right now I think whatever if Alvin isn't here and doesn't show up and however that plays out or when he does whatever I think they're going to look solution at these Five Guys um because the only other two options that I can see and I don't know if anybody else has really brought anything different to the conversation that's starting to been had over the since Alvin stages little mini walk out in mini camp um since all these guys and look Miller Williams and Robinson have documented Zone uh Zone scheme snaps both in college and um in the NFL level you can go back and dig enough places to find it may not go in depth I don't know if they were inside outside how they were used particularly other than Jamal Williams that one year with with Ben Johnson um he was primarily the ins primarily not exclusively the inside inside Zone guy because DeAndre Swift was with him he was primarily but not exclusively the outside Zone guy but they did mix a match um so I think of the three veterans considering Miller's um is a veteran in his second year and he he got some snaps last year and some playing live action playing time um I really the only worries you have with these three but they are worries is their health um how's that g to shake out and questions about their explosive playmaking because Williams is getting up there and he took a lot of carries his couple of years in Detroit um he's basically same age as Alvin Miller coming off some injuries two years in a row the ending his college career and some stuff like hope everything's in shape ready to go and he's good and then what are we going to get from Robinson can can Achilles and all that other stuff is perfectly fine can he get back to what he was his first two years so that's really the questions and I'm pretty sure most of that can be can be answered during training camp um I don't think you're going to see necessarily a heavy scheme adjustment anything because Frisco while they are wide Zone they do run uh We've covered that in the in the videos yeah they were on um inside Zone and so kubak Clint kubak may be adjusting I mean his plan may have been with Alvin looking at like very comparable to what Christian mcaffrey can do going yeah that's what we're gonna do we're gonna have that well Alvin's not here now maybe I'll have to adjust he has mentioned several times he's here to bring the scheme to the players he has meaning trying to ask them to do the stuff that they can do well and a well-run inside Zone scheme May Revitalize Jamal Williams Because I I really think that was where he was most effective in his career doing it he pretty good the way Ben Johnson used him in 2022 so it's a possibility but I still think they're more that philosophy trying to get um get it spread out and trying to get people out of the box and moving and more room help the line out and help Derek Carr with some easier I shouldn't say easier some open look throws where he can get balls into Playmakers we still have a lot of still have a lot of Playmakers on the outside at receiver um and we we're going to have some in this running back group I feel like it just it may take his all the training camp to find him and I'd feel a lot better we had Alvin there just leading the charge and then figuring out what how everybody else was going to fit in and contribute but it may not be a possibility Free Agents so really the last option you would be is to look at the free agent list um I don't know if there's anything really there at this point you'd want to bring in that's going to give you any more of a better option than the five names we were just talking about honestly maybe if one of them wants to come in for next to nothing and take a shot at making the team especially when you're looking at Cook or Acres maybe I I don't know I think latavius Murray I don't know if he would be a real good scheme fit in this but maybe but he's he's getting up there in ag so K A young cream hunt would be great in this believe me but older guy now and and hadn't looked like a little like Alvin hasn't looked kind of like himself the last couple years in Cleveland much like Alvin hasn't looked like him you don't again you could just be kind of buying into the same uncertainty you have now around players then breed and McKinnon uh both favorites and and played for Frisco and they may have something left um mcken the last two year or last few years at Kansas City two-time Super Bowl win is 32 so I don't know if you're going to pry him out of retirement and if he would I don't I don't see why he wouldn't Kansas City maybe wouldn't want to bring him back for see if he could contribute to third run so I don't think there's really anything here um unless the Saints know something some uh a I don't want to say a lesser name but a name that's not as prominent as these maybe maybe somebody comes in they bring in we'll see but I think the bet is is just what you're looking at is we're going to ride with what we have and those five and see how it shakes out with Alvin Conclusion & Outro so we know are we we're pretty sure I think I think it's a high certainly we won't be seeing Alvin in four or five days at trainy Camp when everything opens we'll see hopefully will but I don't think anybody's real confident at the moment so I'm I'm like I think we just have no better option we've got the Five Guys well I I think there there's going to be enough quality in there we may be able to to produce on the that'll help produce on the offense give production I hope so because if not th this it could be a struggle bus all year to do what we're trying to do which is run the ball to set up the West Coast pass like we we've been discussing for a while so if you agree it's like hey we we're pretty much going to have to ride hard with the five we got and hope the AL Sint situation works itself out as soon as possible hit the thumbs up um also interested if anybody out there knows of a free agent fit that that they could maybe go get and bring in um a little more healthy younger reliable than the the seven or so names we were just looking at um I did find a free agent when there was a few guys I was just unfamiliar with that I'm not sure who they are but they could be one of those undrafted Jewels like James Robin son was floating around there so y'all know anything shoot it at me and I I'll go see what I can find out but till then uh just waiting around to see how uh Saints and Alvin work it out or if they work it out or whatever happens and when it happens we'll go from there so till then I'm Tim peace out HUD that