WhoDat!656

The Saints like Mark Ingram, just not enough to pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal.

So since they made a financial decision, he’s making one as well.

The former first-round running back said he’s using his pending free agency as fuel going into the coming season.

“It’s motivation,” Ingram said, via Christopher Dabe of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “I’m coming up on a contract year. I’m an unrestricted free agent after this year, so we’ll see what happens.”

Picking up the option would have put them on the hook for $5.2 million, and nothing Ingram has shown so far indicates he’s worth that.

“Like they said, they really like me as a player,” Ingram said. “Just the (salary) number was a little high for what a running back gets on the free-agent market.”

When established backs are struggling to get paid, it’s hard to imagine what the actual market would be for Ingram. He has 1,462 yards and 11 touchdowns in three seasons. Getting that in one would move him toward the neighborhood of what the option year would have paid.

He’s shown flashes of talent, but in his current situation, he might not ever be able to maximize his skills, or his earning potential.

Mark Ingram using option snub as motivation | ProFootballTalk

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

ScottF

nowhere does he say the word snub...'motivation' is not a synonym
yet another sensationalized headline

He knows, as everyone knows, he isn't worth half of that option

Danno

Exactly, he even said it himself...

“Like they said, they really like me as a player,” Ingram said. “Just the (salary) number was a little high for what a running back gets on the free-agent market.”

Halo

He lost me with the fumble in the Seattle playoff game. He'll have to prove me and a ton of others wrong. Mark it so.

jnormand

I'm excited to see how he responds. He was running with authority at the end of last season.

73Saint

As soon as I saw "snub", I knew it was a BS headline. More and more these days, I read a headline, then read the article and think, what did I miss?

Journalism sure has changed (for the worse) over the years.

Rugby Saint II

I've been hoping he turns into an Emmit Smith. I loved him at Alabama.......maybe this year he'll put it all together.

exile

He needs motivation? Isn't he an NFL player? And shouldn't he already be motivated? I'll all confused now.

ScottF

Yes, he motivated... read between the lines: money.
He is motivated this year because his contract is up.

Perhaps if he was more motivated the past 3 seasons we would have been more motivated to exercise the option.

Danno

Players say various things motivate them all the time. It doesn't mean they weren't motivated previously.

Motivation has never been Mark Ingram's problem.