Rookie Saints RB Kendre Miller eager to put pressure on Alvin Kamara
Competition is nothing new to Kendre Miller. He arrived at TCU as a three-star recruit from Mount Enterprise, a small Texas town of a couple hundred people sitting more than an hour’s drive away from Shreveport. Initially expected to back up Zach Evans, the five-star prospect who impressed everyone in the big city in Houston, Miller instead matched Evans stride for stride and after two years together Evans bowed out to enter the transfer portal.
Now the stakes are even higher. Having won the starting job at TCU, Miller now has sights set on winning the top spot with the New Orleans Saints. That’s easier said than done, but he’s confident he can supplant Alvin Kamara sooner rather than later.
“How they use (Kamara) is kind of unique, and watching film every day, we watch a bunch of clips of him,” Miller told John DeShazier for the team’s website. “How they use him in the pass game, that’s pretty cool. I feel like I can step in and pretty much do the same thing.”
Miller knows he’ll need to develop as an asset on passing downs to take Kamara’s spot — he says the Saints coaches have him putting in time with the Jugs machine and doing drills catching rapid-fire tennis balls, and he’s eager to work on refining his footwork once doctors give him the go-ahead. A meniscus injury knocked him out of TCU’s national championship bid, and the Saints aren’t taking any chances by rushing him back to action.
So this will certainly be a competition to watch closely in training camp. The Saints invested a lot of resources in upgrading their running backs depth chart this offseason by drafting Miller in the third round and signing Jamaal Williams to a sizable free agent contract. Kamara won’t be available for the start of camp while attending court dates in Las Vegas, and any league discipline that follows legal proceedings will only sideline him for more time and give Miller more opportunities.
There’s a real possibility that Kamara returns to a reduced role with Miller and Williams established as an already-solid one-two punch. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Words are one thing. Actions are another. Let’s see if Miller can back it up over the summer.
