Why Saints' Alvin Kamara Doesn't Want to Be Traded

Alvin Kamara is one of the more obvious trade candidates in the NFL. And considering that he's a five-time Pro Bowl selection with plenty left in the tank playing for a 1-5 team far from contention in the Saints, it's not difficult to see why.

But there's one simple snag in any plans that Saints brass had of potentially dealing Kamara ahead of the NFL's Nov. 4 trade deadline: The star running back doesn't want to be traded.

Why would Kamara want to stay with a team that hasn't made the playoffs in four straight seasons and is headed for a fifth straight?

"There's nothing for me to chase," Kamara told Saints beat writer Nick Underhill after his media availability on Thursday. "I feel good where I'm at. I think there's some beauty in being able to turn something around."

It's an especially admirable stance given that Kamara, who was selected by the Saints in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft, was blessed with team success early on in his career. New Orleans made the playoffs in each of Kamara's first four seasons.

But Kamara has been adamant about his desire to remain with the Saints, saying he wanted to end his career in New Orleans during contract negotiations with the franchise this past summer. On Thursday, he repeated his desire to stay put while refuting a report that stated Saints general manager Mickey Loomis had approached him about potential trade destinations that interested him.

"Yeah, I don't know where that [came from]," Kamara said. "We talked about [the report] and we was looking at each other like the little Spider-Man meme: 'Did you say something? Did I say something?' I don't know where that came from, but I think I've been vocal enough that ... I don't want to go anywhere.

"And I said it countless times, y'all know that. I think everybody knows that. The fan base knows that. And at the end of the day, it's business. So I don't go upstairs, and I don't have an office upstairs. I got an office in Charlotte at NASCAR, but I don't got an office upstairs, so I don't really sit in those meetings, and I don't really know what happens up there."

And Kamara made it clear what he plans to do should a trade come down the pipeline.

"If Mickey comes down and says that (I've been traded), I'm going to go drink a piña colada somewhere," Kamara said.