When the New Orleans Saints hired Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator earlier this offseason, there was one thing that really got people excited: how Kubiak will help running back Alvin Kamara return to dominance. Kubiak spent last season as the pass game coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. While there, he was able to see the offense work around Christian McCaffrey. Now, he’ll try to recreate that in New Orleans with the similarly talented Alvin Kamara.
Since arriving in New Orleans, Kubiak has made it abundantly clear that the offense is going to be built around the run game. ESPN’s Katherine Terrell recently detailed how both Kubiak and head coach Dennis Allen want a run-first offense. In the piece, Terrell highlighted comments from Kubiak in a pre-draft interview where he explained the Saints’ offensive philosophy.
"I think we just want to be grounded and run the football. We want to have an identity that we can run the ball versus eight-man fronts. That's something we're going to stress to our guys early in the offseason, building our play-actions and moving the pocket off of that and trying to be a really good team on first and second down."
- Klint Kubiak to WWL Radio
Klint Kubiak says Saints want to run the football
This should be music to Alvin Kamara’s ears, who’s coming off the least productive season of his career. Playing in 13 games last season, Alvin Kamara had just 180 carries for 694 yards and five touchdowns. He also added 75 receptions for 466 yards and one touchdown. However, the decline in production had much more to do with the offensive line play as well as the offense as a whole. The entire run game struggled.
Kubiak and the team is set out to change that. That was evident with the selection of Taliese Fuaga. Fuaga is a physical mauler that has experience in the zone running scheme that Kubiak is bringing to New Orleans. If the rebuilt offensive line can deliver, Kamara, Jamaal Williams, Kendre Miller, and Taysom Hill will all benefit. A great run game can open up everything in the offense and win the Saints more games.
