Alvin Kamara Trade Rumors: Saints Want 'at Least' What Christian McCaffrey Received

The New Orleans Saints have not ruled out trading Alvin Kamara, but they reportedly want a haul for the five-time Pro Bowler.

Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported the Saints want a haul that's "at least" equivalent to what the Carolina Panthers received for Christian McCaffrey. The San Francisco 49ers traded a second-, third- and fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft and a fifth-round selection in 2024 in exchange for McCaffrey last week.

Much like McCaffrey, Kamara's base salary ($1 million) for the 2022 season makes him extremely tradeable. A team acquiring Kamara would only have to pay the remainder of his base salary for this season and then essentially have him on a series of one-year contracts through the 2025 campaign.

Kamara's base salary is $9.4 million in 2023 and $10.2 million in 2024 before ballooning to $22.4 million in 2025. It's almost certain no team, the Saints or otherwise, have any designs on paying any running back more than $22 million in a season.

Coming off a dreadful 2021 season, Kamara has looked spry in 2022 despite dealing with a rib injury. He's rushed for 351 yards while adding 191 receiving yards in five games played, improving his yards per carry from 3.7 last year to 4.6, which is back in line with his career average.

With the 49ers and New York Jets (James Robinson) having already traded for running backs, it's not clear whether there will be a robust market before the deadline. The Los Angeles Rams have made Cam Akers available in trade talks for weeks without getting much traction, and the McCaffrey trade is an outlier of recent deals for running backs.

It seems unlikely a team will give up a McCaffrey-esque haul barring an injury in this week's games.