METAIRIE, La. – Alvin Kamara’s historic Christmas Day performance from New Orleans Saints is a gift that keeps on giving.
Kamara’s NFL record-tying six touchdowns came at the perfect time for fantasy football managers using him in their championship lineups. And many of those grateful fantasy managers, in turn, paid it off with donations in Kamara’s honor to a charity he supports.
Son of a Saint, an organization that guides boys who have lost their fathers through death or incarceration, said it has received $ 21,000 from nearly 400 backers to date.
“We are especially grateful to Alvin for choosing Son of a Saint as his charity,” said founder Bivian “Sonny” Lee III, son of the late Saints defender Bivian Lee. “As an organization, we will be turning 10 at the midnight strike, so this will make the generosity even more meaningful as we kick off 2021.
“As we grow to 200 guys enrolling, generous donations like this allow us to have more impact and fulfill our mission. I want to thank Alvin Kamara and everyone who has donated so far.”
Kamara achieved a total of 56.2 points in ESPN PPR competitions (points per reception), the fourth highest number of any player in a match in the past 20 seasons. He jokingly said he’s well aware when fantasy managers are unhappy with his performance, so he enjoyed seeing this response.
“Folks, they’re strong in this fantasy football year round. … I don’t even want to repeat the things they’ve sent and tweeted, stuff like that. But it’s good to see people keep their word and they are willing to donate, “Kamara said.” I don’t know how much you play fantasy football; I’ve never played it. … But it goes to good organization. I am just blessed to be able to help Son of a Saint at the same time. “
Kamara, who was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career – in addition to earning other accolades – in the past week, said he didn’t spend much time on his performance.
“I was blessed to be able to do it in a city that I love with a team that I love. It’s cool,” he said. “But I’m totally honest – I’m always looking for what’s next, what more can I do. That’s what I’m looking for … As a team I think we have so much more to accomplish.
“I don’t want to downplay it and make it look like it wasn’t a great performance because it was. I was more happy to just share it with everyone, like Drew [Brees] excited and Sean [Payton] excited and all those guys excited. “
The Saints (11-4) took their fourth straight NFC South title with a 52-33 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16. They still have an outside shot at the NFC’s No. 1 if they win their final at Carolina Panthers – but they needed both the Chicago Bears to defeat the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks to defeat the San Francisco 49ers. The Saints would earn the best seed in a tie with the Packers and Seahawks for a better record at the conference.