It's easy to look at a star NFL player's big contract, like Alvin Kamara's five-year, $75 million deal, and wonder what could possibly be purchased with so much money. A look at Kamara's mouth while he plays answers some of the question.
Kamara is known not just for being one of the league's best mutli-dimensional running backs but also for the stylish grill he wears each and every gameday. While of late the New Orleans star has embraced a diamond grill on both his top and bottom teeth, he's also worn gold in the past, conveniently aligning with the Saints' color scheme.
It's not obvious when Kamara began wearing a grill while he played, although he's pictured at times during his college career at Tennessee wearing one as well. He's also never said publicly how much such a flashy mouth accessory costs, although his teammate Cameron Jordan provided some context during the 2020 season.
Kamara, who among other fashionable accessories also sports nose jewelry, is definitely aware that his grill-wearing is a trendy topic. In 2019, Kamara said, "There's so many diamonds in there, we can't even count."
"There's so many diamonds in there, we can't even count."
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 23, 2019
Alvin Kamara reporting on his own grill is pure comedy 😂😂 @A_kamara6
(via @diannaESPN) pic.twitter.com/F04kBco1OE
What's on Alvin Kamara's teeth?
Saints running back Alvin Kamara wears a grill on both his top and bottom rows of teeth when he plays in NFL games. A grill is a type of dental jewelry worn over one's teeth.
Officially, Kamara is wearing a custom VVS diamond grill, made up of nearly perfect diamonds. It was designed by Houston-area jeweler Johnny Dang.
Hip-hop artists began wearing grills in the 1980s, according to HipHopDX, and Flavor Flav was one of the earlier adopters with gold caps. In 2005, the song "Grillz" by Nelly, Paul Wall, Big Gipp, and Ali reached No. 1 single status.
How much do Alvin Kamara's grills cost?
Earlier this season, Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan joined Chris Long's podcast and was asked about Kamara's grills.
"Look, I feel like my grill and his grill don't shine the same," Jordan said at first. "I don't know, I know what I spend... my bottom is nice, but he's got bottoms and tops."
Long pressed further, though, informing Jordan that he's "not in the grill market." Asked whether Kamara's grills exceed $10,000, Jordan replied, "Oh, easily. Easily, easily multiple tens."
In one sense, it's logical that putting a lot of precious jewels in one's mouth would cost a lot of money. Tens of thousands of dollars also seems like a lot of money for an object to wear in your mouth during a football game.
But Kamara is just doing him, something he's not shy about. He wore red-and-green cleats when the Saints played on Christmas Day, resulting in a fine he had to know was coming. But Kamara looked great that day while scoring six touchdowns on the ground, so he probably didn't mind the fine.
The same is surely true with the grills. Kamara both looks good and plays good. Why change now?
"He'll pop 'em in if he's going out or something," Jordan told Long. "He'll pop 'em in for practice every now and again. But it's always gonna be there Sunday."