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Alvin Kamara sets New Orleans Saints touchdown record

Running back moves past Saints legend Marques Colston

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From the beginning, all signs pointed to the fact that he was different, perhaps first among equals.

There were his locks, his grill and the tape on the back of his arms. There were the Airheads, the flashy cleats and the swag-filled answers that came off less as bragging and more as straight talk.

But ahead of all that, was the production.

Specifically, Alvin Kamara found his way to the end zone early in his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints, and often. It has been a relentless assault that has led Kamara to do in seven seasons what former Saints receiver Marquez Colston established in 10: Kamara, with 73 career touchdowns, now is the franchise all-time leader, surpassing Colston's 72. Kamara set the mark Sunday, Oct. 8 with a 2-yard touchdown run against the New England Patriots in Gillette Stadium in his second game of the 2023 season.

"He's just such a dynamic player," Colston said last year. "On the ground, through the air, he can just score and make plays in so many different ways. He didn't have to make it look so easy.

"(But) I'm really excited for him, really happy for him. This is probably just the midway point for him, so really excited to see how far he kind of pushes this thing."

The push began in 2017, when the third-round pick began to stack accolades – NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, five-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro. And often, he has made it look as easy as his gliding running style.

Fourteen touchdowns, including a kickoff return score, as a rookie. Eighteen scores in his second year. Six in his third year, when he played 14 games, then a franchise single-season record 21 in 2020, including an NFL record-tying six rushing touchdowns on Christmas Day.

Another nine in 2021 and four last season left him in a tie with Colston for the offseason with the opportunity to break the record the moment he hits pay dirt in the 2023 season.

"The most impressive thing to me is the consistency," Colston said. "To be able to pile these numbers up in (seven) years, there's not just this one year that is off the charts, and then everything else is below average."

"This guy is really putting together season after season, super high level of production and ultimately, especially with what's happening in the receiver room the last couple of years – I mean, he's the guy. When you're the guy that teams are really game planning around and it's priority No. 1 to stop you and you're still putting up these kinds of numbers, I think it just goes to speak for the kind of player that he is."

That player now owns another franchise record, one of the most prestigious ones.

"I'm excited, because records are meant to be broken," Colston said. "I was able to hold it down for awhile but just knowing the kind of player that he is and knowing how much of his career he has still left in front of him, I'm just really excited to see how far he takes it."

Check out the game action shots from the New Orleans Saints game against the New England Patriots in Week 5 of the 2023 NFL season.

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