It’s just a projection at this time but insiders have it on good authority that Michael Thomas will be departing from the New Orleans Saints. He’s been with the team his whole NFL career and it’s going to be tough to watch him go.
If there’s one thing about Michael Thomas, and that’s that he’s a winner. He’ll find himself another team to go out with when he finally decides to leave the NFL for good. But the Saints fans just hope that this doesn’t come back to bite them in the derrière as it always seems to do in these cases.
Michael Thomas And The Saints
After graduating from Ohio State in 2015, Michael Thomas was drafted right away by the Saints. It was in the 2nd round that the wide receiver was the 47th pick overall. That would begin his outstanding career with New Orleans and what a career it has been.
He started his first NFL game when the Saints played the Raiders in the season opener. He caught six passes that game but his first touchdown wouldn’t come until a few weeks later when Drew Brees connected with him during Monday Night Football against the Falcons. That was how his career began and it looked like it was going to be a fairy tale ending.
After breaking the record for most receptions by a single player in 2019 with 149 and being named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year, he’s had a few tough seasons recently. His injuries have held him back and kept him from playing more than 20 games in the last four years.
And just like that, the business of being in the NFL can get real quick.
Michael Thomas Has A Few Choice Words
In light of early reports that he would be released, the wide receiver was not happy with how it all came out in the wash. In fact, he took to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and started calling out one particular columnist who has been reporting on the Saints for years, Jeff Duncan.
Duncan’s first sentence in his Thursday NOLA article reads, “Michael Thomas has played his last game for the New Orleans Saints.” Of course, that can’t be easy for anyone to read, especially when their name is all over it.
But Duncan went on to say so much more than that. He highlighted Thomas’ injuries over the years and how that had an impact on his declining behavior. He wrapped his article with, “But with Thomas, his checkered Saints tenure will always be defined by its unfulfilled potential. It coulda, woulda, shoulda been so much different. A disappointing end to a tenure of seemingly boundless promise.”
Wow! If he wasn’t trying to stir some drama up with Thomas, he certainly didn’t try that hard. Of course, the wide receiver had something to say about it all.
Who Are The Saints Looking At
With Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave, and A.T. Perry at the top of the roster, Keith Kirkwood and Lynn Bowden have their issues to work out before 2024. The Saints have great talent to work with. And don’t ever forget how quickly Taysom Hill can line up for a few passes or just trick the defense into thinking that’s why he’s on the field.
Sports Illustrated seems to think that the draft might not be the Saint’s best place to pick up a new wide receiver to fill Thomas’ shoes. But from a pool of free agents, there’s a nice list that includes Ray-Ray McCloud from the 49ers, Darnell Mooney from the Bears, and K.J. Osborn from the Vikings. Picking up Devin Duvernay from the Ravens might not be a bad idea either.
To be honest, no one can fill the shoes of Michael Thomas and it’s a shame it ended on such a shady note. But, it hasn’t happened yet. What if next week, the story doesn’t pan out the way Duncan called it? That would be nice.
More must-reads: