New Orleans Saints Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Saints handcuff is whoever sits directly behind Travis Etienne on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Travis Etienne joins from Jacksonville, where he took 260 carries at +0.17 yards over expected. Alvin Kamara stayed, and out-targeted him per game — 3.55 for Kamara in New Orleans against 3.06 for Etienne in Jacksonville. Etienne took 60.8% of Jacksonville's snaps last season; Kamara took 40.8% of New Orleans'.

Travis Etienne has been close to ever-present in Jacksonville, 66 of 68 team games across 4 seasons, 2 missed. Kamara's record is longer and thinner: 66 of 85 over 5, and he has dropped from RB2 to RB4 on the depth chart.

Etienne's record was earned in Jacksonville. The work that would move is the running, and Kamara's running has fallen off hard — -0.734 yards over expected per carry, 48th of 49 qualifying backs, on 131 carries. Etienne was +0.173 and 33rd on 260.

New Orleans' depth chart behind Kamara shifted this week. Devin Neal, who took 23.9% of the snaps (58th among running backs) with 19 targets in 9 games, dropped from RB3 to RB7 and off the depth chart, with his injury status listed as Questionable after being on injured reserve. Kendre Miller jumped from RB5 to RB2 and is now listed as Questionable; he had taken 10.0% of the snaps, 85th at the position. Audric Estime moved the other way, up from RB4 to RB3. Ty Chandler climbed from RB7 to RB5. New Orleans also added Zamir White, who arrives from San Francisco.

Both, and the reporting below has the head coach describing two backs who can each play in all three phases rather than a starter and a specialist.

Travis Etienne took 60.8% of Jacksonville's snaps last season, 13th among running backs, on 260 carries. Kamara took 40.8%.

The overlap is the risk. When two backs do the same things, the split is decided week to week by form rather than by role, and neither has a floor that survives the other playing well.

Kamara, on rate, though the gap is narrower than his reputation.

Kamara drew 39 targets in 11 games, 3.55 a game, catching 33 for 186 yards at 0.664 receiving yards per pass snap. Travis Etienne drew 52 in 17 for Jacksonville, 3.06 a game, at 0.837 — the higher figure per snap.

On volume Travis Etienne was on the field for more of it, 349 pass snaps; Alvin Kamara played 280. So Kamara is the higher-rate target on fewer opportunities, which is a real role but a fragile one. Kamara has also slid to No. 4 on New Orleans' RB depth chart from No. 2. Devin Neal has come off IR and is now listed as Questionable, off the numbered depth chart he held at No. 7, which does not touch Kamara's passing-down role directly.

The reporting below positions Kamara as the primary pass-catcher and Etienne as an every-down player. Those two descriptions compete for the same snaps.

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-09-02. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

Coach Kellen Moore said both backs have the explosive, elusive ability to play in all three phases (TSN, 2026-07-22).

Moore described Etienne as capable of being an every-down player because of his intelligence and football sense (TSN, 2026-07-22).

Kamara caught more than 80 passes a season early in his career and is positioned as the primary pass-catcher (TSN, 2026-07-22). Behind him, the depth chart has shifted: Kamara moved from the No. 2 spot to No. 4, while Kendre Miller climbed from No. 4 to No. 2 as he carries a Questionable injury designation. Devin Neal, now on IR, dropped from No. 3 to No. 7, and Audric Estime moved up from No. 5 to No. 3.