Time is dwindling for the New Orleans Saints to retain running back Mark Ingram with a contract extension. Can the NFL team re-sign the former Alabama All-American before he hits the open market and how much is that going to cost?

If Ingram doesn't have a contract extension with the Saints by 3 p.m. CDT Wednesday, he'll be free to sign with any NFL team. Beginning at noon Monday, his representatives can start entertaining offers from other teams. Until then, New Orleans has an exclusive negotiating window.

Ingram has completed a four-year, $16 million contract that extended his stay with the Saints to eight seasons after they selected him with the 28th choice in the 2011 NFL Draft. He played for a base salary of $3 million and collected a roster bonus of $500,000 and a workout bonus of $100,000 during 2018.

The sports financial website spotrac.com estimates Ingram’s market value as a two-year, $8.84 million contract. If Ingram’s pay for 2019 came to $4.4 million, he’d be No. 7 in compensation among running backs for the 2019 season, based on current contracts.

The Saints have said they’d like to have Ingram back for the 2019 season, and the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner has said he’d “love to be in New Orleans.”

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis talked about New Orleans' offseason plans while attending the NFL Scouting Combine.

“First of all as we get into this offseason, our priority is going to be to sign the guys back that are free agents that were on our team a year ago,” Loomis said, “and then we’ll look at some other free agents, see where we can improve our team, and then, obviously, after that we’ll make a reassessment of where our roster is and, hopefully, we’ll have lots of opportunities in this draft to improve our team.”

The Saints will need to prioritize their priority because they have 17 unrestricted free agents, three restricted free agents and one exclusive restricted free agent on their roster without a lot of money to spend.

Spotrac.com estimates New Orleans will have $9,091,653 of cap space and overthecap.com pegs it at $10,279,712, based on current contracts. Either way, the Saints rank among the teams with the least money to spend, way behind a team such as the Indianapolis Colts, which will have more than $105 million in cap space for 2019 when free agency opens.

Much of the work that the Saints will get done on their roster between now and the draft will hinge on “how things unfold with Mark’s contract,” New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. “That’s an important position for us because both he and Alvin have given us a really good combination of runners.”

Working with Alvin Kamara at running back for the past two seasons in New Orleans, Ingram has been part of the Boom and Zoom duo that has helped the Saints win two NFC South titles, run up a 24-8 regular-season record and post two playoff victories -- and it might have been more except for two heartbreaking postseason moments for the Black and Gold.

An NFL suspension cost Ingram the first four games of the 2018 season. After rushing for 1,043 yards in 2016 and 1,124 yards in 2017, Ingram ran for 645 yards and six touchdowns on 138 carries in 2018.

"Ohhhh Lawd! L👀k at the details!" @MarkIngram22 had plenty of big plays in 2018 - which was your favorite? pic.twitter.com/i0gULh4SM9 — New Orleans Saints (@Saints) February 19, 2019

As it stands now, when free agency hits on Wednesday, 12 NFL teams won't have a player under contract who ran for as many yards as Ingram did in 2018 (even with the four-game suspension). Those teams are the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins.

All those teams won't be in the market for a No. 1 ball-carrier, though. The Falcons with Devonta Freeman, the Jaguars with Leonard Fournette and the Lions with Kerryon Johnson have running backs in place whose production was curtailed by injuries in 2018.

How is the supply to meet the demand for running backs?

Among the potential free agents are running backs who are more accomplished than Ingram in their NFL careers but also come with more tread off their tires, such as Frank Gore, Marshawn Lynch and Adrian Peterson. There also will be backs who have been productive in their NFL careers who might come cheaper than Ingram, such as Jay Ajayi, C.J. Anderson and Tevin Coleman. And then there's two-time All-Pro Le'Veon Bell, who sat out the 2018 season rather than play for the Pittsburgh Steelers under the franchise tag, which would have paid him $14.54 million.

The running backs available in the NFL Draft in April aren’t considered a strong group, with Alabama’s Josh Jacobs deemed the No. 1 prospect at the position and perhaps the only RB who’ll go in the first 50 picks. Still, incoming players such as Damien Harris of Alabama, Devin Singletary of FAU, David Montgomery of Iowa State and Benny Snell of Kentucky present cost-saving options who could be paired with another running back, allowing free-agent money to go toward other positions.

During the 2018 campaign, Ingram ran for his 50th touchdown, which allowed him to pass Deuce McAllister as the franchise's all-time leader. With 90 more rushing yards added to his total of 6,007 in a Saints' uniform, Ingram would replace McAllister as New Orleans' career leader in that marquee stat, too.

“Man, he’s been a big part of our success,” Payton said when asked at the NFL Scouting Combine about retaining Ingram. “There’s a clean vision for the player. Hopefully, we can get that done.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.