Travis Etienne And Alvin Kamara Splitting First-Team Reps At Saints Training Camp: Fantasy Football Breakdown

New Orleans Saints running back Travis Etienne Jr could end up being one of the most polarizing fantasy football running backs this season. He had a great 2025 campaign with the Jacksonville Jaguars, rushing for 1,107 yards and seven touchdowns, and catching 36 passes for 292 yards and six more touchdowns.

This offseason, he signed a big deal with the Saints in free agency. The deal is worth $48 million over four years. All signs pointed to Etienne looking at a bell-cow role in New Orleans with Alvin Kamara likely out.

Then, earlier this month, Kamara reworked his contract, and it sounded a lot like the Saints backfield could end up being more of a committee. Kamara's strengths have always been catching passes and scoring touchdowns, which doesn't bode particularly well for Etienne owners.

Now, the Saints have opened up training camp with Kamara and Etienne splitting first-team reps. All of a sudden, Etienne's fantasy value looks a lot more uncertain than it did this time a month ago.

Saints RBs Alvin Kamara & Travis Etienne split first team reps today, per @SeanFazendeFOX8 pic.twitter.com/4yuCWA4p4y
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) July 29, 2026

Fantasy Impact

RB Travis Etienne Jr, New Orleans Saints

Etienne is currently being drafted inside the top 20 fantasy football running backs. This news could force his ADP to drop. While we can't say that this isn't a bit alarming and there is a chance that the drop could be warranted, we would be buying the dip.

We are fully under the belief that Kamara is washed. He is 31 years old, coming off the least productive and least efficient season of his career. Injuries are also a huge issue for him. He hasn't played a full season since his rookie year back in 2017 and has missed 13 games over the past three seasons. Because of this, Kamara isn't scaring us off of anything or pushing Etienne back in our rankings.

RB Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints

Based on what we just said, it's probably pretty clear that we aren't in on Kamara this season. That doesn't mean this news shouldn't bump him up in rankings a bit. Currently, he's being drafted as the RB46 overall. We could understand bumping him up four or five starts after his new deal and getting first-team reps in camp.

Still, we view this as the team being respectful to their veteran, more than a sign of things to come. What we expect from Kamara this season is for him to be a nuisance for Etienne owners at times, but hold very little standalone value.

More Fantasy Sports On SI News

Add us as a preferred source on Google