Alvin Kamara taking backfield ownership in second season

In 2017, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara burst onto the scene and walked away with NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, but 2018 will provide a different kind of challenge without the early season protection from Mark Ingram.

The duo had a joint season for the ages, becoming the first backfield tandem in NFL history to have both players eclipse 1,500 yards from scrimmage.

Even as a rookie, Kamara actually outpaced Ingram by 14 yards and was sixth in the entire league in that department. Not to mention third in all-purpose yards and second in total touchdowns.

But with Ingram slated to miss the first four games of the season to a suspension, Kamara wraps up Saints mini-camp with a different mindset as the bona fide leader. “Yeah, like you said, I mean it’s Year 2. Finding new ways to be effective, just fine-tuning the little things in my game that maybe Year 1 where everything was going fast, now it’s slowed down to where I can really kind of slow down and process and think about what’s really going on and see everything for what it is. So it’s just constant progress.”

Kamara and Ingram were also the first running back teammates to make the same pro bowl in more than 40 years.