Kellen Moore Has Bad News for Your Travis Etienne Aspirations

2026 Fantasy Football Impact

The Etienne signing plus Kamara's decline in performance (and recent injuries) led many to speculate that New Orleans would somehow part ways with the 10th-year vet this offseason. That could obviously still happen, but there's also plenty of reason to believe it won't.

First comes the contract. Kamara carries the hefty cap hit I already mentioned, but that hit would grow even larger if the Saints released him, according to Spotrac ($19.5 million in dead cap).

Perhaps that impact could be lightened by a trade rather than a release, but what team is chasing Kamara at $10.5 million coming off his worst pro season? And if the Saints would have to pick up most of his 2026 salary to facilitate a trade, it might just make more sense -- financially and otherwise -- to simply keep Kamara rather than trading him for some paltry return.

What's It Mean if Kamara Stays?

Moore can say what he wants about Etienne and Kamara fitting together well, but I'm not sure it's a truly workable split for fantasy purposes.

Etienne proved more efficient as a receiver than rusher across his four active Jaguars seasons. That would seem to align closely with what Kamara currently offers.

Moore knows way more about football than I do. So perhaps he's eyeing an innovative approach that deploys both backs often in the passing game, helping make up for the team's dearth of WR talent.

But when it comes to drafting fantasy football teams, it doesn't often make sense to bet on extraordinary occurrences or player deployments.

History tells us not to bet on two valuable fantasy receivers coming from the same backfield.

Projected ADP Movement

Of course, none of this matters much for Kamara's valuation. Drafters don't want him at all. That's why he's going RB60 in Underdog Fantasy ADP right now, early in Round 17 of the 20-round drafts.

Etienne, however, sits 15th among RBs in best ball ADP -- going in the middle of Round 3.

And he's even higher in Drafters' full-PPR format (as opposed to half-PPR on Underdog). Etienne's the RB14 there, going around the 2-3 turn.

That seems at least a little too early with the potential for a split backfield in a lackluster offense.

Etienne would get more interesting if that ADP recedes -- or, of course, if Kamara left. But the latter would likely also push Etienne's ADP even higher.

I'd guess that both I and Draft Sharks overall will stay below market on Etienne for 2026 drafts.