Alvin Kamara Fantasy 2026: Is the Saints RB Worth an RB48 Dart?

Alvin Kamara has been one of the most reliable pass-catching backs of his generation, and in 2025 that reputation ran into a hard season. Across 11 games he carried 131 times for 471 yards and one rushing touchdown, and added 33 catches for 186 yards and no receiving scores, a thin 9.2 points per game. The market has moved on accordingly, sending him out as the deep RB48 at an overall PPR ADP of 147.9, a last-few-rounds dart. At that price the bar is low. The problem is that the depth chart now lists him second, and the back ahead of him is exactly the kind of workhorse that squeezes a committee.

The pass-game skill set is still real

Start with what still works. Even in a down year Kamara ran a genuine receiving role: 33 catches on 39 targets in 11 games, the possession, chain-moving usage that keeps a back relevant in PPR even when the ground game sputters. Our graded start/sit calls on him cleared the line in 17 of 25, a 68% record, respectable on a small sample and a reminder that when he plays a real down-and-distance role he still returns useful weeks. For a back going in the last rounds, a proven three-down skill set at a rock-bottom price is the entire bull case. You are not paying for a workhorse. You are paying for the chance that a still-capable veteran carves out a pass-down and change-of-pace role worth a flex start.

The scoring line is the warning

Here is the part the price is reacting to. One rushing touchdown on 131 carries, and zero through the air, is a scoring collapse for a player who used to live in the end zone. It was not pure bad luck either. Kamara took 16 red-zone carries but only 2 goal-line touches and 8 inside-the-10 touches in 2025, a shrinking short-yardage share for an aging back. When a runner's goal-line role thins out, the touchdowns go first, and that is precisely what happened. An 11-game sample also means the durability question is live: this was not a full, healthy season, and the market is pricing the games missed as much as the production.

The depth chart says he is the second back now

This is the biggest change, and it is why the RB48 tag is not just an age discount. New Orleans imported a workhorse this offseason: Travis Etienne Jr. reads as the Saints' RB1 on the current depth chart, and he is being drafted nearly 100 picks ahead of Kamara at an RB18, overall 50.5 price. Etienne earned that on Jacksonville in 2025, where he ran 260 times for 1,107 yards and 7 touchdowns and caught 36 balls over a full 17 games. Just as important for a back whose calling card is scoring, Etienne owned the stripe in that offense: 10 goal-line touches, 28 inside-the-10 touches and 44 red-zone carries. That production came on his old team, so treat it as the profile New Orleans is buying, not last year's Saints usage, but the message is the same. The team paid for a lead back, and the lead-back touches, especially the goal-line work Kamara has already lost, project to run through Etienne.

The rest of the room, and the quarterback

The backfield does not stop at two. Rookie Devin Neal flashed a real pass-down and change-of-pace role as a rookie, 57 carries, 19 targets and 2 rushing touchdowns with 2 goal-line touches across 10 games, which is the same short-yardage and receiving work Kamara needs to hold. That is a third mouth in a room that just added a workhorse on top. Under center, the Saints run a rookie-led passing game in Tyler Shough, who threw at an 8.36-yard average depth of target with a 12% deep rate over an 11-game 2025 look, a moderate profile that leans on the underneath and checkdown game. That environment is the one thin tailwind for Kamara: a young quarterback who checks down feeds targets to the back, and targets are the skill Kamara still has. The catch is that Neal wants those same targets, so even the pass-game floor is a share, not a lock.

The receipts, and the price

Put it together and Kamara is a late-round dart, not a starter. The 17-of-25 graded record says the skill set still plays when the role is there. The one-touchdown 2025, the shrinking goal-line share, the 11-game sample, and a depth chart that lists him behind an imported workhorse say the role may not be there often enough. At an RB48 price none of that has to break right for the pick to work. If Etienne misses time or the pass-game role consolidates onto Kamara, there is a flex week or two in it. If the committee holds and the rookie eats the change-of-pace snaps, he is a bench body. Every call and every result is on his player page, so you can track whether the role is trending up or down before you ever start him.