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Is Alvin Kamara the best Running Back in the NFL?

SBLIII

By SBLIII
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GSUeagles14

GSUeagles14

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, tyler735 said:

Right, I mean if we just ignore 7 touches for 11 yards, he did really average (instead of being shutdown) against the Saints too!

Gurley finished the game well today. He was a non-factor for most of the game then closed out the game really well in the 4th quarter, so I can respect him help seal that win today with a big 4th quarter.

By being intentionally vague youre making a stupid argument worse.By touches you mean receptions, as we've covered numerous times now, receiving is different than rushing. 

 

honest question for the objective people in this thread, only in terms of this season where does kamara rank in terms of production? Really dont think you can put him in the top 5...

 

1. Gurley

2. Barkely

3. CMC

4. Zeke

5. Gordon

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Destructo Spin

Destructo Spin

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Posted (edited)

You have to put up volume stats to be considered in this discussion. Kamara doesn't put up volume stats because he is in a time share with Ingram.

We did see him in a featured back role for 4 games this season when Ingram was hurt, and he finished that 4 game stretch with 275 rushing yards and 35 catches for 336 yards. 611 yards from scrimmage at that point and 6 TDs, which I believe led the league in both categories.

Then Ingram came back and reduced his touches significantly (23 touches per game w/ Ingram out, 16 touches per game since Ingram's return)

 

Think it's pretty safe to say that if Kamara got true featured back volume of touches, he'd probably be right up there with Gurley. But it's better for his long-term career if you limit him around 250-75 touches per season. He's a 215 pound guy, not a 230 guy.

Edited by Destructo Spin
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MrOaktown_56

MrOaktown_56

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Posted
22 hours ago, GSUeagles14 said:

By being intentionally vague youre making a stupid argument worse.By touches you mean receptions, as we've covered numerous times now, receiving is different than rushing. 

honest question for the objective people in this thread, only in terms of this season where does kamara rank in terms of production? Really dont think you can put him in the top 5...

 

1. Gurley

2. Barkely

3. CMC

4. Zeke

5. Gordon

4

He also doesn't get carries like any of these guys. That's a disingenuous argument too, though I'm not saying other arguments made in this thread weren't.

Kamara is better than CMC IMO. People are obsessed with stats. Kamara breaks more tackles and I prefer him as a player.

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GSUeagles14

GSUeagles14

Posted
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9 minutes ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

He also doesn't get carries like any of these guys. That's a disingenuous argument too, though I'm not saying other arguments made in this thread weren't.

Kamara is better than CMC IMO. People are obsessed with stats. Kamara breaks more tackles and I prefer him as a player.

cmc is more efficient by a significant margin running the ball and neck and neck receiving. zeke is a touch ahead running and significantly behind receiving... same with barkley, gordon/gurley are ahead efficiently wise on both. that was considered heavily, so not sue how its a disingenuous argument. additionally, being able to handle higher volume while keeping strong efficiency is a positive.

 

and the question wasnt who was a better player, its who was having a better season.

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MrOaktown_56

MrOaktown_56

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Posted
1 minute ago, GSUeagles14 said:

cmc is more efficient by a significant margin running the ball and neck and neck receiving. zeke is a touch ahead running and significantly behind receiving... same with barkley, gordon/gurley are ahead efficiently wise on both. that was considered heavily, so not sue how its a disingenuous argument. additionally, being able to handle higher volume while keeping strong efficiency is a positive.

 

and the question wasnt who was a better player, its who was having a better season.

Yeah I mean from that perspective it's hard to argue, especially considering Kamara is in a split backfield. I wonder what the effect of Cam in the backfield has on CMC's productivity, but you could also argue that the Saints have a better line. I have no dog in this fight, just spectating from afar.

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El Ramster

El Ramster

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Posted
12 minutes ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

He also doesn't get carries like any of these guys. That's a disingenuous argument too, though I'm not saying other arguments made in this thread weren't.

Kamara is better than CMC IMO. People are obsessed with stats. Kamara breaks more tackles and I prefer him as a player.

TN had a great duo attack with Lendale and Chris Johnson.. They said eff that and made CJ the starter the following season. If Kamara is so great it just doesn’t make sense lol. Sean Peyton has to be the biggest idiot ever. Even Fisher knew when to make Cj the feature back. 

 

 

production per touch could be a dangerous stat. While it looks great on paper, it could be deceiving. Look at Eckler last night, was PFF number one back. But as a featured back his stats diminished.

Look Kamara is amazing. But his 4 game sample size as a RB not a weapon left a lot to be desired. Saints fan blame their Oline which is fine and valid. But they throw away his bad games(Dallas) like it’s nothing. He’s had 4 bad games running the ball.. 

 

But I guess Tyler isn’t the only one holding on the Kamaras super secret lol. Sean Peyton as well.

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Destructo Spin

Destructo Spin

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Posted

This has always been the problem with Saints offensive players so nothing new. Colston probably could've had many 100 catch, 1200 yard seasons if he hadn't been in an offense with Lance Moore, Devery Henderson and Jimmy Graham with 200 passes a year going to RB's. Pierre Thomas was the Saints best RB and probably could've been a 1500 yard rusher if he hadn't had to always be in a three-way timeshare with McAllister/Bell/Bush/Sproles/Ingram/Ivory and so on. It's frustrating for the legacies of those players because people looking at stats don't realize how good they really were.

Kamara is the only RB in 12 years of Sean Payton offenses that ever got to carry the full load even for a short time and he led the league in scrimmage yards and touchdowns over that span. You can't say with 100% certainty he could've kept that up over the course of a full season but that dude is so slippery he almost never takes a big hit. He would more than likely be a 1,000/1,000 kind of guy if he ever got the touches IMO.

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Destructo Spin

Destructo Spin

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Posted (edited)

If you are trying to say that anything 4.0 ypc or less is a "bad game" IDK about that.

When in one of these supposed 'bad games' he had 9 catches for 112 yards, and 3 touchdowns besides, for examples, and he's also the team's primary punt returner. Or a game where they deliberately gave him a rest because they wanted to get Ingram involved in the offense after his suspension.

And besides that I'm not sure a 3.8 YPC game is a "bad game" considering it came against Baltimore #1 defense and he scored two touchdowns in that game, for another example.

 

I'm not even trying to argue that Kamara is the best RB in football, BTW. Just don't think it's fair to evaluate him on traditional running back criteria. he's as much a WR as he is a RB.

 

Edited by Destructo Spin
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SmittyBacall

SmittyBacall

Posted
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2 hours ago, El ramster said:

TN had a great duo attack with Lendale and Chris Johnson.. They said eff that and made CJ the starter the following season. If Kamara is so great it just doesn’t make sense lol. Sean Peyton has to be the biggest idiot ever. Even Fisher knew when to make Cj the feature back. 

And what happened when Chris Johnson saw an obscene amount of carries in that role? The guy completely fell off. He had no more tread on his tires. They ran him into the ground and out of relevancy.

I don’t blame Payton for running Kamara and Ingram. Why not conserve them both? It’s not like your running game is struggling - hell it probably tops the league. Why change anything if you have nowhere to go but down?

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SmittyBacall

SmittyBacall

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1 hour ago, Destructo Spin said:

If you are trying to say that anything 4.0 ypc or less is a "bad game" IDK about that.

When in one of these supposed 'bad games' he had 9 catches for 112 yards, and 3 touchdowns

To be fair he said “bad rushing games”. I think he’s excluding the receiving. 

I don’t necessarily agree I’m just pointing that out.

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El Ramster

El Ramster

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17 minutes ago, SmittyBacall said:

And what happened when Chris Johnson saw an obscene amount of carries in that role? The guy completely fell off. He had no more tread on his tires. They ran him into the ground and out of relevancy.

I don’t blame Payton for running Kamara and Ingram. Why not conserve them both? It’s not like your running game is struggling - hell it probably tops the league. Why change anything if you have nowhere to go but down?

All RBs have a short shelf life.

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