Saints RB Alvin Kamara like Christian McCaffrey, Panthers say, except in 1 big way

When the Carolina Panthers lost to New Orleans in Week 3, the league was still catching on to the prodigious talent of Saints rookie running back Alvin Kamara.

Heading into the matchup in Charlotte, Kamara had eight carries for 21 yards, and a respectable seven catches for 71 yards.

But now, Kamara is the favorite to win rookie of the year. He leads the NFL with 7.1 yards per carry, is tied for the league lead in touchdowns with nine, and has 548 rushing yards and 546 receiving yards.

He was on Carolina’s radar before the draft, too. Linebacker Luke Kuechly said Thursday that he can remember speaking with Kamara during a pre-draft visit. He came away impressed with the former Tennessee Volunteer.

“I think he’s a really smart player and understands football,” Kuechly said. “He can do anything. He can line up, he can play wide receiver, he can come in the backfield, he can run the ball, he can get out and protect, he can get out on pass routes from the backfield and he looks comfortable. They’ve got a good player.”

Of course, the Panthers instead drafted a running back with similar skills to Kamara, Christian McCaffrey, with the No. 8 pick.

The difference?

Head coach Ron Rivera said this week that because McCaffrey’s body of work at Stanford showed his college football-leading ability two years in a row (McCaffrey was a Heisman contender in 2015), they leaned to him. Kamara was in a strictly complementary role with lead back Jalen Hurd at Tennessee.

“We saw similarities, and at that point we liked them both,” Rivera said. “We just like Christian where we liked him. I think the success he had the prior season, the success he had had his last year there, I mean, he had two years in a row where he did it at a very high level.”

Like Kamara, McCaffrey lines up as both a receiver and a running back. He also is a threat as a receiver out of the backfield. Carolina’s defenders have plenty of experience against McCaffrey after lining up across from him in practices and drills.

But Carolina, tasked with facing Kamara twice a year, must evaluate a specific difference in the two backs: How Kamara makes people miss.

“They’re both phenomenal in their ability to make people miss, in their own way,” Panthers safety Kurt Coleman said. “With Kamara, he kind of goes limp to the side and the (defender) kind of shrugs off. Christian is just breaking ankles all day.”

The Panthers (8-3) are keying on Kamara’s elusiveness as they prepare for New Orleans (8-3) on Sunday.

“What’s funny is, (Kamara) has a remarkable ability, but he’ll take a hit and he kind of goes limp to a side, but he keeps his balance with the other half of his body,” Coleman said. “It’s crazy, because guys just kind of fall off him. So he’s not like a 6-foot-5, 200-pound running back, but he’s breaking a lot of tackles with his elusiveness and his ability to kind of shake off tackles by going dead.”

Kamara ranks third in the NFL in broken tackles with 40, according to Pro Football Focus.

“The thing I have noticed about him is his ability to use his (non-ball-carrying) hand on the ground to keep himself up,” Kuechly said.

In Week 3, Kamara was responsible for one of the explosive plays Carolina is trying to limit this Sunday. He put the final stamp on an embarrassing loss with a 25-yard touchdown run.

Carolina’s game plan is to eliminate Kamara as a threat in the run game, then limit his ability to create extra yards in the pass game.

“It’s really about containing him,” Coleman said. “All 11 guys (have to be) running to the ball if you’re on the field, and wrap him up, and drive your feet.”

Kuechly said clogging the space in which Kamara can move is key.

“Those guys, Kamara and Mark (Ingram) break tackles,” he said. “They’re good at that, good at making guys miss. You always hear the cliche of ‘get guys around the ball,’ and it’s true. We’re going to have to do that this week.”

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Saints RB Alvin Kamara like Christian McCaffrey, Panthers say, except in 1 big way."