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The New Orleans Saints 2022 season hasn't gotten off to a very good start. Injuries have destroyed the Saints in the early going, and it has resulted in them crawling out to a 1-3 start this season. The Saints have to get healthy if they want to see improvements, yes, but they also haven't been playing great football either way.
Neither side of the ball has seen any sort of consistency emerge so far for New Orleans. Pretty much everyone on the offense is dealing with some sort of injury, and the defense hasn't been able to pick up the slack through four games. If the Saints didn't pull off a furious rally in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons, chances are they wouldn't have won a game yet this season.
The Saints injuries are the cause of a lot of their struggles, but one player's start to the 2022 season has been more disappointing than the rest. Let's take a look at who that player is and see why his start to the season has been such a disappointment for the Saints.
Saints biggest disappointment in 2022: RB Alvin Kamara
It's admittedly a bit unfair to put Alvin Kamara as New Orleans' biggest disappointment considering he's only played in two of the four games so far. But even when he's played, Kamara has been pretty unimpressive for the Saints so far this season. Maybe it's the lack of use, or maybe he's playing at way less than 100 percent, but Kamara's start to the season has been pretty bad.
Kamara has become one of the best dual-threat running backs in the NFL in recent seasons, and his ability to gash opposing defenses both as a runner and a receiver makes him so dangerous. The problem is that Kamara simply hasn't looked like that player to start the season.
In his two games played, Kamara has picked up just 119 total yards. Considering Kamara has had 29 touches, that yardage total doesn't look very impressive. Just for reference, Kamara has picked up 119 total yards or more in 20+ games throughout his career. For the standard he's set, the first two games of his season have been massively disappointing.
In Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons, Kamara's 12 touches netted just 46 total yards, which is less than four yards per touch. He did get phased out of the game and picked up an injury along the way, but if he had just shown up earlier in the game, New Orleans wouldn't have had to pull off a crazy comeback to win the game.
Kamara sat out Week 2 before returning for the Saints Week 3 contest against the Carolina Panthers, and he didn't look much better. He picked up 61 yards on his 15 carries, and turned three catches into 12 yards, but he coughed up a fumble in the first quarter that Marquis Haynes ended up returning for a 44-yard touchdown. The Saints ended up losing that game by a touchdown.
Kamara seemed good to go for the Saints Week 4 contest against the Minnesota Vikings, but ended up having to sit that one out too. Latavius Murray and Mark Ingram II picked up the slack, but it's clear the Saints could have used Kamara's presence in a game they lost by just three points.
Dealing with injuries isn't why Kamara is on this list, though. When he's played, he's been bad. Missing time hurts, yes, but Kamara has made virtually no impact when he's been on the field so far this season.
There may be other things contributing to Kamara's lack of success, such as Jameis Winston's struggles under center, or the rest of the offense being beat up, but Kamara has played through issues like this before. Considering Winston's struggles, Kamara was supposed to be the focal point of the offense this season. Instead, he's been one of the players holding it back.
Kamara has a lot of time to turn things around, but he has to get back on the field first. The Saints offense hasn't been good as a whole this season, but that's partly because Kamara has been missing in action. If he shows up in Week 3, or takes the field in Weeks 2 or 4, maybe the Saints aren't stuck lamenting their injuries four weeks into the season.
Again, it's tough to include Kamara here, but he's been one of the most guilty parties for the Saints slow start. Even with their slow start, the NFC South looks wide open right now; the Saints just haven't been able to capitalize on that yet. Kamara will have to turn things around when he retakes the field moving forward, or else the Saints offense could be in some serious trouble for the rest 2022 season.
