Gumbo
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
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USA TODAY Sports
In 2017, the Saints didn’t get a chance to draft quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the tenth overall selection. They would have. The Saints also didn’t get a chance to draft running back Christian McCaffrey, the eighth pick.
They wouldn’t have.
Saints coach Sean Payton tells Peter King for his latest Football Morning in America column that Payton had extreme faith in running back Alvin Kamara, whom the Saints would acquire in round three.
Payton explained to King that Payton told his scouts to quit looking at the Internet, which had become smitten with McCaffrey.
“I told ‘em, ‘Kamara’s going to be a better player than McCaffrey,'” Payton said.
King breaks down the respective performances of the two players. Due to McCaffrey’s various injuries this season, Kamara has played nine additional games. Kamara has 998 total touches in 60 games, and McCaffrey has 1,002 in 51 games. Kamara averages 6.18 yards per touch, and he has scored 58 touchdowns. McCaffrey has averaged 5.81 yards per touch, with 45 touchdowns.
McCaffrey averages 19.64 touches per game. Kamara gets 16.6. The added workload — which works out to nearly 50 more touches per year — puts McCaffrey at greater risk of injury. Payton always has used multiple tailbacks; it would be interesting to see how McCaffrey would do in the New Orleans offense, and how Kamara would do in Carolina.
Still, the numbers are close enough to show that, based on the initial draft-pick investment and the different between McCaffrey’s second contract and Kamara’s, it made much more sense to wait for Kamara than to pounce on McCaffrey.