Mark Ingram

New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram celebrates his touchdown in the second half of an NFL game against the Green Bay Packers in New Orleans on Oct. 26, 2014.

(AP Photo)

Running back Mark Ingram got more chances to show what he could do with the New Orleans Saints in 2014 than he had in his previous three seasons in the NFL. Alabama's 2009 Heisman Trophy winner totaled 226 carries - 70 more than he had in any previous season - and he produced 964 yards, his season high by 362 yards. Ingram also caught 29 passes - four more receptions than he had in his first three seasons combined. It all added up to a Pro Bowl season.

"I always knew what I was capable of doing," Ingram told espn.com. "I was confident in my ability. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. And when it did, I wanted to be able to seize it."

The Saints re-signed Ingram to a four-year, $16 million contract rather than allow him to reach free agency. Then New Orleans signed running back C.J. Spiller, a free agent who spent his first five seasons with the Buffalo Bills, to roughly the same contract. And Ingram is OK with that.

Ingram said he and Spiller were "good friends" even before they became NFL teammates.

"He's a special player," Ingram said. "He's a game-breaker, can take it to the house no matter where he is on the field -- punt return, kick return, pass, run. So I'm looking forward to it. ... So it wasn't anything strange or anything when we signed him. I talked to him before it even got announced."

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The way things have been going for Ingram, it probably would take more than the prospect of losing some time in the Saints' backfield to Spiller to throw him off his stride. Coming off his first Pro Bowl selection, Ingram became the father of a baby girl, Myla, in December, and his father, Mark Ingram Sr., was released from prison earlier this year. The senior Ingram, a former NFL wide receiver, served six years for bank fraud, money laundering and jumping bail.

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"It's been very special," Ingram told espn.com. "God's been very good to me. I'm extremely blessed just to be in the situation I am, to have a beautiful daughter, a great girlfriend, all my family supporting me and my father getting out and starting his life again, getting a new contract, being in a city that I'm familiar with with the team that drafted me. I'm blessed and I'm thankful."