Tyrann Mathieu blasted Saints team officials this week for how they are handling Alvin Kamara, saying on his podcast that New Orleans was not dealing with the veteran running back in good faith. Mathieu also said the Saints did not have the courage to cut Kamara and argued, “This is not the way you treat your franchise all-time touchdown leader.”

The criticism landed as Kamara enters his 10th season and turns 31 in July, with his production dropping sharply last year. He finished with career lows in rushing yards, yards per carry, receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns, including 471 rushing yards, 3.6 yards per carry, 33 catches, 186 receiving yards and one touchdown. His rushing success rate of 32.06% ranked 63rd out of 65 backs with at least 50 attempts, and he ranked 53rd of 58 backs in elusiveness.

That decline has hardened the Saints’ view of a player who has long been one of the most accomplished and popular figures in franchise history. New Orleans used rookie Devin Neal in key passing situations last season because Kamara’s pass protection was poor, and Kamara allowed six sacks in 48 pass-blocking reps. He was also among the top 10 highest-paid backs in the league, which makes his role and his pay harder to separate from the expectations that come with both.

Jeff Duncan pushed back in a column this week, writing that he did not see how anyone could say the Saints are mistreating Kamara and that the team is going out of its way to do right by him. The tension between those views reflects a familiar NFL divide: players often see hard business decisions as disloyalty, while teams see them as the cost of protecting a roster that has to keep moving.

For Kamara, the numbers raise the real question now. He remains the franchise’s all-time touchdown leader, but the Saints have already shown they are willing to reduce his workload when the matchups demand it, and the gap between his legacy and his recent production is only getting wider.