Alvin Kamara’s run as a fantasy football building block is over, and Pro Football Network’s Jason Katz is not softening the landing.
The 30-year-old is coming off the worst season of his career. A knee injury ended his year in Week 12, capping a campaign in which he managed just 471 rushing yards and one touchdown across 11 games. New Orleans answered this offseason by signing Travis Etienne Jr. to a four-year free-agent deal, reported at $52 million and listed by Spotrac at $48 million, closing the book on Kamara’s long stretch as the team’s unquestioned lead back.
Why PFN Analysts Are Done With Alvin Kamara for 2026
Soppe doesn’t see a role worth drafting. “What’s the Kamara role looking like in 2026? Like he’s getting three targets and four carries,” he said, framing a player who has slid from featured back to afterthought.
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The receiving usage that once carried Kamara’s fantasy value has thinned out too. “People [are] talking about Kamara like he’s going to have this massive target share. It was 10.5% last year,” Katz said. “And that was bad. That looked like a ceiling. He averaged 0.89 yards per route run.” That’s pitiful,” added Soppe.
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Kamara’s raw 2025 line supports the pessimism. He caught 33 of 39 targets for 186 yards and no touchdowns, the least receiving production of his career, in an offense that no longer runs through him. For a back whose appeal was always the passing game, that is the number that matters.
Soppe’s closing shot cut off any nostalgia argument. “I get that he’s a great talent and was formerly a great player and formerly had a great skill set,” he said. “But so did Barry Sanders, and I’m not asking Barry Sanders to get out there and run the ball right now.”
Travis Etienne, Not Kamara, Is the Saints Lead Running Back Now
The flip side of fading Kamara is buying the back who replaced him. Etienne signed a four-year deal to take over as New Orleans’ lead runner, and the analysts view him as the backfield’s clear fantasy asset heading into 2026.
There is an ADP wrinkle worth watching. Etienne’s draft cost climbed in the spring on the assumption Kamara would be released outright. Katz thinks that price holds even if Kamara sticks around, because Kamara’s presence no longer changes the math. If Kamara is reduced to a marginal third-down role, Etienne owns the backfield either way.
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Soppe put the burden back on the drafter. If Kamara merely being on the roster is enough to scare you off Etienne, “then you don’t feel strong enough to draft him in the first place,” he said. In other words, believe in the player or don’t, but don’t let a diminished veteran talk you out of the guy who took his job.
Kamara can still surface in deeper leagues if he carves out passing-down work, and his name recognition will keep him on draft boards longer than his production warrants. The more useful question for 2026 is how much of the New Orleans backfield Etienne locks down, because that is where the fantasy points are going.
