Alvin Kamara and Saints in Apparent Contract Standoff

Alvin Kamara has been absent from Saints practice for the last several days; Adam Schefter reports that these absences were "unexcused" and there's a belief it's over contract issues. Sean Payton didn't really want to talk about it today:

Kamara is entering his fourth season in the NFL. Last season, he had 1,330 yards combined rushing and receiving and six total touchdowns. Given that he was a third round pick, he really hasn't broken the bank relative to his production, and he's set to make a little over $2 million this season. His whole four-year rookie contract totaled under $4 million.

This is the latest installment in age old debate of whether and how much NFL teams should pay star running backs, who are integral to offensive flow but are then a question of value for their second contracts. This is always a tricky spot, so we'll see if/how this gets resolved in New Orleans.