Michael Thomas chimes in on his situation with New Orleans Saints

Michael Thomas had an injury-plagued 2020 season. Over the weekend, it was reported that the star receiver ignored phone calls from members of the New Orleans Saints coaching staff for nearly three months. The Saints were looking for updates on his injured ankle, but received no word from Thomas.

Saints wanted Thomas to have surgery

Following the season, New Orleans officials advised Thomas to have ankle surgery as quickly as possible. Thomas believed that he could heal his ankle in time, so he did not opt for surgery. Head coach Sean Payton, trainer Beau Lowery and receivers coach Curtis Johnson all reached out to Thomas but were met with silence.

Now, Thomas has had to undergo surgery later than he would have needed to in order to be ready for the regular season. The lack of communication has been frustrating for the Saints, who will now be without their top wideout as they transition to the post-Drew Brees era.

“It appears we’re going to have to spend some time without him,” Payton said. “We would have liked that to have happened earlier. Quite honestly, it should have.”

Thomas fires back at Saints

With rumors circulating about the receiver’s future in New Orleans, Thomas took to Twitter to voice his frustrations Monday.

“They tried to damage your reputation,” Thomas said. “You saved theirs by not telling your side of the story.”

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— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) August 9, 2021

Thomas has totaled at least 1,137 yards receiving in each of the four full seasons he has played in the NFL. In his career, he has 510 receptions for 5,950 yards and 32 touchdowns. He is a big part of the Saints offense, as he was targeted 185 times in 2019 and has 658 targets on his career.

At Ohio State, Thomas caught 113 passes for 1,602 yards and 18 touchdowns. The former Buckeye only played a serious role in his final two collegiate seasons.

This ongoing situation is obviously worrisome for the Saints. In addition to Brees retiring, the Saints lost wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to the Buffalo Bills and tight end Jared Cook to the Los Angeles Chargers in free agency. As the team transitions to either Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill at quarterback, they will be without one of the top outside weapons in the league when he is on the field.

Without Thomas, the Saints’ receiving room takes a big hit. Deonte Harris, Tre’Quan Smith, Chris Hogan and Marquez Callaway are some of their options at receiver. New Orleans will be a much better team if their star wideout is on the field. Right now, nobody is quite sure when that might happen.

Image courtesy of: Jamie Squire via Getty Images.