The New Orleans Saints traded a future second-round pick along with a seventh rounder to the San Francisco 49ers in the 2017 NFL Draft. Making that move allowed the Saints to select running back Alvin Kamara (No. 67 overall). What may have seemed puzzling — the team housed established veteran Mark Ingram in the backfield and had signed perennial Pro Bowler Adrian Peterson just weeks before the draft. Plus, Kamara wasn’t the No. 1 guy during his time with the Tennessee Volunteers as that job belonged to Jalen Hurd.
But what the Saints’ staff knew at the time that we did not was that Kamara possessed a skill-set that would be shockingly effective inside Sean Payton’s offense.