The courting of Jadeveon Clowney had to leave at least one Saints star unhappy

I know the New Orleans Saints are ALL IN trying to win Super Bowl LV. It’s ALL or nothing, Lombardi Trophy or Bust.

And I applaud them for it.

But I had no idea the depth in which they are ALL IN until last week when Team Saints went ALL OUT to sign free agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Their unabashed recruitment of the former No. 1 overall pick of the Houston Texans in 2014 and highly creative contract offer was fit for a king.

Or someone with more skins on the wall.

The specifics of the Saints’ creative swing-and-miss aren’t important. The devil is in the details. All you need to know is the Black and Gold ultimately didn’t have the necessary salary cap room to close the deal, and Clowney now belongs to the Tennessee Titans.

You win some, you lose some.

And while the Saints are to be commended for trying to upgrade their roster — even if it meant kicking the salary-cap can farther down the road — I kept wondering what running back Alvin Kamara must be thinking when he learned Saints coach Sean Payton traveled to Houston to share a chef-prepared dinner with Clowney.

How must Kamara have felt knowing Saints officials were willing to part with $10 million and a second-round pick to bolster a position that already features two excellent pass rushers in Cam Jordan and Marcus Davenport?

Yes, it’s a business but I suspect Kamara didn’t like it one bit. It’s only human nature to feel slighted.

Meanwhile, Kamara remains a player-in-wait on a new, lucrative long-term deal that Payton claims will happen at some point in time.

Unlike the rush to sign Clowney, there appears to be a methodical approach on the part of Saints officials to re-up Kamara, who’s operating in the fourth and final year of his rookie contract heading into Sunday’s season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at an empty Mercedes-Benz Superdome (3:25 p.m., Fox).

A deal could get done today. Maybe tomorrow or the next day.

Until then, Kamara will soldier on, keep his head down and continue to prepare for the suddenly relevant Buccaneers who now count quarterback Tom Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski and running back Leonard Fournette in their number.

A strong case can be made that the Bucs are ALL IN, too.

That said, even without the likes of Jadeveon Clowney, the Saints are in much deeper, the likes of which we’ve never seen in these parts.