Cowboys, Rams trying out Alvin Kamara copycats...

[saintswire.usatoday.com]

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara has been a sensation in his brief NFL career, and now he’s inspiring copycats across the league. His deployment in New Orleans hasn’t been that unusual — there have been other talented pass-catchers at the position in the past, and better athletes. But few players have found such a perfect union of ability and usage as the young Saints superstar, and more than one team has pointed to Kamara as the type of talent they’re hoping to start using.

“It’s a little unfair,” acknowledged Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones, after his team picked former Memphis Tigers running back Tony Pollard. Jones continued, “he’s certainly not at that level, don’t get me wrong — but (he has) a little Kamara to him, as to how he complements (Mark) Ingram down in New Orleans.

“Obviously, he’s got to come in here and show it, but he can do a lot of things,” Jones said. “He can play flyer on special teams, he can return kicks, he can do all that. But what excites me the most is his home run threat as a running back.”

For his part, Pollard also isn’t eager to draw such a close comparison: “I wouldn’t just compare myself to (Kamara), but I would just say me and him are similar in ways that we play,” Pollard said to Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “Just being able to do more than one thing, line up in the backfield as a running back, mismatches with the linebackers, running routes out of the backfield, making plays on special teams.”

Another team trying to find their Kamara look-alike is the Los Angeles Rams, who selected Pollard’s college teammate Darrell Henderson. Rams general manager Les Snead warned head coach Sean McVay of letting Henderson fall past their pick, saying, “The Memphis guy gives us a Kamara element. We’ll play against him and you’ll feel it.”

And McVay agreed with that evaluation, saying after the draft, “We’d identified (Henderson) as a guy that has a specific skill set, that really can do some unique things for us offensively. He was one of those guys that stood out for us, so we’re excited about getting him here.”

Whether either of these players will be successful Kamara mimics remains to be seen. They’ll be playing behind two studs in Todd Gurley (for the Rams) and Ezekiel Elliott (with the Cowboys), so the template is there to work with. As far as that goes, it’ll be fascinating to see if Kamara himself can keep his momentum going now that Ingram isn’t taking touches from him. He’ll have every opportunity to put up historic numbers, whereas Kamara’s career to this point has been spent playing alongside — or behind — another running back.

Still, it’s tough to see someone else tearing up the NFL in the ways Kamara has, punishing teams through the air and on the ground. Hopefully, he can keep thriving.