Saints Resign Mark Ingram

Source: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

The legal tampering period began yesterday and team’s all over the league have been rushing to resign their best players, or get new ones on the team. Reports say that the Saints have resigned former heisman winning running back Mark Ingram, even though it can’t be official until free agency officially begins. Adam Schefter reported the deal yesterday.

Saints and RB Mark Ingram have reached agreement on a four-year deal, per league source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2015

The details of the contract have been said to include $16 million over four years. This deal comes at a great time for the Saints, who have just locked up Ingram throughout the rest of his prime. Running backs in the NFL tend to start trending downhill when they reach age 30, and this four year deal locks him up from now until he’s 29. This year Mark Ingram was finally given a feature role after failing to live up to expectations in his first three seasons. Ingram rushed for 964 yards and nine touchdowns on 226 carries. That adds up to an average of around 4.3 yards per carry, which is actually a pretty good number. If Ingram can manage to stay healthy next season, he has a good chance to be a 1,000 yard rusher for the Saints, who could really use a dynamic back to help make their offense more two-dimensional.

Considering the money that Ingram is receiving, it’s safe to assume that he’ll be taking on the bulk of the carries again. Khiry Robinson will likely serve as Ingram’s change of pace back, while Travaris Cadet could possibly develop into a pass catching back much like departing running back Pierre Thomas. The Saints are certainly hoping that these three backs can step up and have a big part in the offense this year as they look to bounce back from a horrendously disappointing 2014 season. Drew Brees is still a good quarterback but he may be falling out of the elite class of quarterbacks and if that trent continues, they will need to rely more on their run game as well as their defense. This was a good move by the Saints, especially considering their lack of cap space will make it hard to do much else.