Saints rookie running back Alvin Kamara has turned into an absolute force this season as he’s made tacklers miss left and right. Chances are your friend won’t shut up about how he’s rescued their fantasy football team. (Great move, you’re the Howie Roseman of your league. Now fuck off.) The 5-foot-10, 215-pound Kamara has been one of the toughest backs to wrangle, forced six missed tackles Sunday against the Panthers, and treated 6-foot, 230-pound linebacker Shaq Thompson like a minor inconvenience on this TD run:
Watch a few times and use these other videos as supplementary material in order to fully process how Kamara kept his balance and lurched forward after taking that hit:
Kamara’s other rushing touchdown in the game was just as impressive. He dashed past Kawann Short, escaped Kurt Coleman’s arms, and forced Luke Kuechly to helplessly look on. Pro Football Focus ranked Kamara as the NFL’s most elusive back through Week 12, and he’ll almost surely lead it after this week, too.
It has been pointed out, and will probably continue to be pointed out in every upcoming soft feature about the breakout running back that complemented Mark Ingram and transformed New Orleans’s offense, that Kamara was a backup in college at Tennessee because recently fired Vols head coach Butch Jones preferred a running back by committee with Jalen Hurd (who wasn’t exactly a slouch but is currently sitting out a season after transferring to Baylor) taking lead. The past is the past, however. Jones no longer has a job and will probably have this decision haunt him for the rest of his coaching career, while Kamara’s lack of college carries will keep him in better shape to cut, jump, or stifle any attempt at bringing him down. Surely the Saints don’t mind.