The New Orleans Saints entered Sunday not sure if they’d even have Alvin Kamara available due to injury.
Kamara did end up being active despite his questionable tag, but he wasn’t getting a lot of work early.
Instead, it was Kendre Miller getting a bunch of early touches — and he put together a great rushing drive that he capped with his own touchdown.
Through 20 minutes of the game, Miller had six carries for 26 yards and a TD.
At that point, Kamara had two runs for 10 yards, as well as two catches for negative-6 yards.
It doesn’t add up with how they approached last week.
Why is Kendre Miller Playing So Much?
There are a couple of potential explanations here.
One is that Miller simply played well on the drive he was on the field. Teams like to rotate running backs in from drive to drive, and so if Miller kept picking up yardage on a drive that had essentially been assigned to him, then it makes sense that he’d stay in and keep putting up those numbers.
Kamara, on the other hand, had those two costly catches — minus-1 and minus-5 — which are drive killers. They’re not necessarily his fault, but they do make it tough for him to be on the field for a longer stretch of time.
The fact that the Saints had given Kamara four early touches does show they aren’t too concerned about the back injury he entered the day with .
It’s just potentially going to be more of a committee than it was in Week 4.
Saints RB Depth Chart
The Saints are missing the RB who is supposed to be leading this group, Travis Etienne. He’s on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
That left Kamara as the RB1 beginning in Week 4 for at least four weeks, which is the minimum IR absence for Etienne.
Miller has been a legitimate factor in the backfield, though, and looks like he will continue to do so.
They also have CJ Donaldson, who is effective in short-yardage situations and can also get work along the goal line.
The Saints won’t play anyone too heavily in this arrangement, although Kamara should still get plenty of work.
Why Kendre Miller is Playing Over Alvin Kamara for Saints RBs with Early TD