Mark Ingram is pivoting to a broadcasting career. FOX Sports announced today that the running back will be joining their staff as a pregame analyst for “Big Noon Sports.” Ingram will contribute alongside Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Urban Meyer, and host Rob Stone every Saturday during the college football season.

The commitment likely signals the end of Ingram’s NFL career, and the announcement indicated that the running back has indeed hung up his cleats. We heard last month that Ingram was likely to retire and join FOX Sports.

“I’m thrilled to join FOX Sports and BIG NOON KICKOFF”, said Ingram (via FoxSports.com). “I can’t wait to feel the energy and excitement every Saturday, alongside some of the most talented and entertaining names in our sport, at the biggest games in college football – I’m ready for the Fall!”

Ingram became an Alabama legend after rushing for more than 3,200 yards and 42 touchdowns during his three seasons at the school. This included a 2009 campaign where he won a national championship and became the first Alabama player to win the Heisman Trophy.

The running back ended up being a first-round pick by the Saints in 2011, and he’ll finish his career as the franchise’s all-time leader in rushing yards (6,500) and rushing touchdowns (52). Following a recent two-year stint in Baltimore and a brief cameo in Houston, Ingram returned to the Saints and spent the past year-plus in New Orleans. He got into 10 games (three starts) this past season, finishing with 301 yards from scrimmage.

The 33-year-old said in April that he felt he could still be a valuable member of a RB committee in 2023. However, considering the number of reliable running back options still on the market, Ingram likely didn’t have many (if any) suitors looking to bring him in.

Ingram will finish his career with 10,236 yards from scrimmage and 75 touchdowns, plus another 356 yards and one score in seven playoff games.

Long after the initial waves of free agency, a number of veteran running backs remain unsigned. One of those is Mark Ingram, who has his eyes set on playing a 13th campaign in the NFL.

The 33-year-old spent last season with the Saints, having made a return to where he began his career the previous fall. Ingram had a memorable tenure in New Orleans between 2012 and 2018, earning a pair of Pro Bowl nods. Given the arrival of Alvin Kamara, though, his chance to re-take a lead role required a new environment.

Signing a three-year deal in Baltimore allowed the former Heisman winner to do just that. Ingram racked up 1,265 scrimmage yards and 15 total touchdowns in his debut Ravens season in 2019. That suggested his second act could involve a repeat of that performance for at least a few more years, but his production has dropped considerably since that point. Ingram has amassed only 1,086 rushing yards since 2020, and he was limited to 10 games last season due to an MCL injury.

That will no doubt hurt his free agent value as he looks to extend his playing career by at least one more season. The fact that Ingram has always worked as part of a tandem or committee in the backfield, however, is something he is acutely aware of as he weighs his options.

“I think sharing backfields, I think not getting overloaded with 300 carries a season for like five or six seasons in a row, I think that has helped me make it to Year 13 and still have a good body where I feel strong, I feel explosive, I feel like I can contribute and produce at a high level,” he said, via Mark Inabinett of Alabama.com.

Ingram is joined by the likes of Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette and Kareem Hunt as backs with significant pedigree who are facing uncertain futures. The latter three are all likely to find new homes earlier than Ingram, but the post-draft period will provide more clarity with respect to which teams are still in need of depth additions at the position. At that point, Ingram may be in line to land with the Saints on another new deal, or with a new team as he looks to add to his career achievements.

The Saints enjoyed a resounding win over the Raiders yesterday, but their backfield lost a key contributor in the process. Veteran running back Mark Ingram has suffered a grade 2 MCL sprain, and is likely to miss the next three to four weeks, reports NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link).

As Rapoport notes, the news could have have been much worse for the 32-year-old. Still, his absence will be felt by New Orleans, which has seen success in turning to a run-heavy offense. The team ranks eighth in the league with an average of 141 yards per game on the ground. Ingram has chipped in with 197 yards this season, as he continues his second stint with the Saints.

The former Heisman winner ended his eight-year tenure with the team in 2019, when he signed with the Ravens. That resulted in his second career Pro Bowl nod, as he totaled 1,265 yards and 15 touchdowns. He lost the starter’s role midway through the following season, however, and found himself on the rebuilding Texans last year. That move was rather brief; Houston traded him back to New Orleans for a seventh-round pick in October, allowing Ingram to once again serve as Alvin Kamara‘s backup via a one-year extension which will expire in March.

The latter, to no surprise, leads the Saints in rushing yards in 2022. Swiss-Army knife Taysom Hill ranks second, but the team’s depth will be tested without Ingram for a significant stretch. Fellow veteran Latavius Murray chose to sign with the Broncos (despite the offer of a 53-man roster spot from the Saints), as Denver has searched for a stop-gap Javonte Williams replacement. That leaves Dwayne Washington as the only other back on the Saints’ active roster.

Looking to make up more ground in the wide-open NFC South, the 3-5 Saints will be without Ingram when they host the Ravens next Monday. How many more contests he misses could dictate their aggressiveness in acquiring a short-term replacement.