Saints’ RB Depth Chart: What Does Surprise Travis Etienne Jr. Deal Mean for Alvin Kamara and This Backfield?

Unlike many of the recent seasons, the New Orleans Saints have money to spend in free agency, and in today’s legal tampering period, they did just that. RB is a major need, and the Saints have addressed this with the massive signing of former Jacksonville Jaguars star Travis Etienne.

Now, with this addition, there could be some major changes to the Saints’ RB room.

How Signing Travis Etienne Affects the Saints’ Backfield and Alvin Kamara’s Future

First, looking at Etienne’s deal with the Saints, it was a 4-year, $52M contract. Although the exact numbers haven’t been released yet, this is a significant investment in Etienne and clearly shows that the Saints believe he is their RB1.

Since 2017, this is going to be the first time Saints legend Alvin Kamara is not going to be the top RB in the Saints. Kamara has always been a sure thing in the Saints’ offense, completely changing the outcome of games, and being an exceptional player.

But last season, he dealt with injuries, and the play on the field was not good enough. In PFSN’s RB Impact Metric, Kamara was ranked 46th overall and had an F impact score. It was really the first time it felt like the Saints could make a change at RB, and recent contract restructures made that a bit clearer.

This past week, the Saints restructured Kamara’s contract, but the way they did it was interesting.

Instead of the usual restructures, the Saints opened up cap space while also creating an opportunity to move on from Kamara. This was probably a move in case the Saints did not get a new RB1, but they just did.

If Kamara is gone in 2026 via trade or retirement, the Saints’ RB room will be Etienne, Devin Neal, Kendre Miller, and Audric Estime. Just looking at that group, more work could be done, but at a lower cost.

Neal is a great complement to Etienne and showed some promise when healthy in his rookie season, so he will be the second or third option next season. That leaves Miller, whose time on the team may be up due to the massive number of injuries he has dealt with, and Estime could be the third- or fourth-option.

That’s not a bad room, but getting another player in the draft, potentially Mike Washington Jr. from Arkansas, could be an excellent last piece. Etienne would be the lead back and home run hitter, Neal would be the short yardage RB2 option, and Washington Jr. could be a mix of both that can step in when needed.