Pro Bowl Football

New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram has some fun during a Pro Bowl practice session at Luke Air Force Base on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz.

(AP Photo)

Running back Mark Ingram continues to say he prefers to re-sign with the New Orleans Saints rather than join another NFL team through free agency. Ingram said it after the Saints' final game of the 2014 season, and he said it again at the Pro Bowl this week.

"I want to be a Saint," Ingram told NOLA.com. "I was drafted there. I'm always appreciative and grateful for that. It's a great organization, first class. We have a great foundation of young talent. I just feel like we've got to keep improving and getting better. I definitely want to stay with the Saints."

The Saints declined to pick up the option for the 2015 season on Ingram's contract, making him a free agent when the NFL year ends.

The former Alabama star is at the Pro Bowl after his best NFL season. Ingram carried the ball 226 times for 964 yards and nine touchdowns and caught 29 passes for 145 yards -- all career highs even though Ingram missed three games with a broken bone in his hand. Ingram carried more of a load for New Orleans this season because the Saints had to depart from coach Sean Payton's usual running-back-by-committee approach when Pierre Thomas missed five games and Khiry Robinson missed six with injuries.

In his first three seasons with the Saints, Ingram had one 100-yard rushing game and carried the ball more than 18 times in a game once. In 2014, Ingram had four 100-yard games and carried the ball at least 23 times in five games.

"I had some opportunities to carry the ball a little bit more than in the past, on the field a little bit more than I was in the past," Ingram told NFL.com. "I just think with those opportunities, I was able to take advantage of them and to put together a good year."

Ingram broke the Alabama single-season rushing record with 1,658 yards in 2009, when he won the Heisman Trophy and helped the Crimson Tide win the BCS national championship. Ingram missed the first two games of the 2010 season because of a knee injury, but the Saints still traded into the first round to pick him. New Orleans gave the New England Patriots a 2011 second-round pick and a 2012 first-round pick to be able to take Ingram with the 28th selection in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Ingram signed a four-year contract worth $7,416,750. New Orleans chose not to exercise the $5 million, fifth-year option on that contract.

"Of course, there's always that 'What if you go somewhere and you could be the main guy and do everything?'" Ingram told NOLA.com, "but I love the Saints and want to be a Saint."

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Ingram is in Arizona preparing for the Pro Bowl. Ingram, C.J. Anderson of the Denver Broncos and DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys will serve as the running backs for Team Irvin. The Pro Bowl will be played at 7 p.m. Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., which will host the Super Bowl a week later. ESPN will televised the Pro Bowl.

Ingram's contract expires at 3 p.m. CST March 10, when NFL teams can begin signing unrestricted free agents.

"I'm looking forward to getting a new deal," Ingram told NFL.com on Thursday. "Hopefully, I'm with the Saints, man. They drafted me, and I'd love to be with New Orleans for my career."

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