5 NFL Red Zone Trends to Monitor for Week 9

Don't Mind Mark Ingram

After he finished with the NFL's 11th-highest share of his team's red zone opportunities last year (carries plus targets), the expectation may not have been that Mark Ingram would repeat his team-high 29.4% mark, but it has been surprising just how small his role has been in scoring range this season.

When Ingram was serving his suspension, Alvin Kamara accounted for a full 50% of the New Orleans Saints' red zone opportunities through the first four weeks of the season.

Ingram returned in Week 5, but he has red zone touches in only two of the Saints' three games since then, tallying 5 opportunities to Kamara's 11. Kamara has matched Ingram's total for those three weeks in each of his last two games. Kamara's market share has fallen, but still sits at 31.4% over the last three weeks, dominating Ingram's 14.3%. Even backup quarterback-slash-wide receiver-slash-running back Taysom Hill has matched Ingram's five opportunities in that time.

Kamara may not be seeing a Todd Gurley-esque share of the work, but 31.4% would still be good for 12th among all players on the season, and Ingram's return has done nothing to cut into his touchdown upside.