Category: Michael Thomas

Drew Brees on keeping playmakers like Michael Thomas engaged in games

Drew Brees joined ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown set and shared his experience in engaging hungry playmakers — like Michael Thomas:

Legendary former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees joined ESPN’s pregame set for Monday Night Countdown before kickoff between the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Rams, and a key point of discussion was the trouble offenses loaded with weapons like Miami experienced in spreading the ball around.

Tyreek Hill. Jaylen Waddle. De’Von Achane. Raheem  Mostert and Jaylen Wright. Those are just some of the playmakers clamoring for touches. And Brees knows a thing or two about keeping his superstars happy. He and Michael Thomas made a lot of history together with the Saints, and he shared some insight into managing that relationship with a player who has drawn so much attention — both from opposing defenses and spectators on social media.

“Look you’re always thinking matchups. And you’re always thinking we’ve got a lot of mouths to feed, how are we going to get all these guys opportunities, especially early in the game,” Brees said on the pregame show. He pointed to how opening scripts would set up the defense to tip their hand  and show who they’re focused on taking away, at which point he and the offense could counter.

It’s just an approach that took a lot of patience. Brees continued: “And a lot of times I’d come to the sideline after Drive 1, Drive 2, and I’d look at Mike Thomas and be like ‘Hey Mike T, stay patient. Alright? They’re going to be doubling you here for a while. Alright? Young bucks, alright, you guys are going to get the ball, you’re going to get the opportunities when we’re start to make them pay here, Mike T you’re going to get your opportunities.'”

Managing that relationship was something Derek Carr struggled with after taking the reins from Brees, which led to a messy divorce between Thomas and the Saints that has repeatedly spilled out onto social media. Thomas has joined dissatisfied fans in calling for Carr’s job, and when one of Brees’ co-hosts brought that up, he gamely laughed it off.

It’s a shame things have taken such a turn for Thomas and the Saints. But if teams like the Dolphins are going to get where Brees and New Orleans have gone (Miami hasn’t won a playoff game since before Brees was drafted by the San Diego Chargers way back in 2001), they’ll need to do more to follow in his footsteps. That’s true for Carr and the modern-day Saints, too.

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Former Saints wide receiver reacts to Dennis Allen’s firing

Michael Thomas gave Derek Carr multiple tweets on Sunday, but he needed just three words to react to Dennis Allen’s firing:

Michael Thomas kept his reaction to Dennis Allen being fired simple, “There it goes.” In just three words, Thomas had the reaction many New Orleans Saints fans had when they heard the news.

After the Saints lost to the Carolina Panthers, changes felt imminent and mandatory. It would be one thing if you dropped a game to the Panthers randomly, but the Saints lost to the worst team in the NFL after losing the previous six games.

Originally, the Saints likely wanted to let Allen finish the season or make it to the bye week at least. After the disappointing performance and various post game reactions, the luxury of waiting was gone. So, Allen being let go Monday morning was expected, and “there it goes” was likely uttered by a large amount of fans.

It was a surprise for Thomas to keep his message short and sweet. The former Saints star receiver is good for letting off multiple tweets to get his point accross. He did it on Sunday when airing out Derek Carr. Thomas kept it simple this time. There wasn’t a need to add insult to injury. Thomas just knew it was time for a change.

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Michael Thomas airs out Derek Carr after Chris Olave’s injury

Ex-Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas criticized Derek Carr immediately after Chris Olave went down with a concussion against the Panthers:

After returning from a concussion just a week ago, Chris Olave suffered another concussion at the beginning of the New Orleans Saints’ game against the Carolina Panthers. Watching from home, ex-Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas didn’t waste time calling out Derek Carr on social media in a series of tweets.

Carr threw a ball high over the middle to the point it was uncatchable, and Olave took a big hit on the play. Thomas jumped on Carr’s lack of accuracy by reflecting on Davante Adams’ catch percentage in his All-Pro season in Las Vegas.

Thomas also called out Carr’s tendency to get antsy with any pressure, saying Carr panics and just throws the ball. It’s difficult to argue with some of the points Thomas was making.

This isn’t the first time Thomas has called out Carr and most times it has been in defense of Olave. He and Olave are both Ohio State Buckeyes and appeared to have a good relationship since Olave was drafted. Thomas isn’t on a team after being released back in March, but you have to think a team will sign the 2019 Offensive Player of the Year sooner or later.

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Michael Thomas served his suspension. But will he sign with a new team?

Michael Thomas served his one-week suspension. But will he sign with a new team now that it’s behind him?

Let’s start with the good news for Michael Thomas. The former New Orleans Saints wide receiver served his one-week NFL suspension stemming from an altercation with a construction worker near his home last year, and he’s now available to sign with a new team.

Now the bad news: Thomas doesn’t appear to be any closer to finding a new team to play for than when the Saints released him back in March. That’s not to say he doesn’t have options or that there won’t be suitors calling his agent in the days and weeks ahead. But a one-game suspension probably wasn’t going to keep anyone from signing him when so many teams are churning through wide receivers right now.

Look at the Cleveland Browns. There’s an obvious connection there with Jameis Winston backing up Deshaun Watson. Thomas was one of Winston’s strongest supporters when they were teammates in New Orleans. Cleveland just signed Kadarius Toney to their practice squad after a couple of other teams kicked the tires on him and didn’t find anything there.

The Buffalo Bills are another option. They have former Saints coaches on staff who also know Thomas well like offensive coordinator Joe Brady and quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry, who worked with the receivers in New Orleans. Buffalo has Super Bowl ambitions but rookie draft pick Keon Coleman led the team with just 51 receiving yards in their season opener. Thomas has averaged 53 yards per game over the last three seasons he’s played.

Thomas isn’t the same player now who broke (and still holds) the NFL record for the most receptions in a single season, who won all those awards and made all those plays. But he can still help a team in the right role. Finding that fit is going to be tricky. Beyond the football concerns, teams are going to be wary of someone with his injury history and who criticized his coach and teammates on social media. That sort of thing is popular with fans who share his opinions, but it’s a turnoff for teams looking for low-profile signings to fill out their practice squads.

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When will Michael Thomas sign with a new team for 2024?

When will Michael Thomas sign with a new team for 2024? The ex-New Orleans Saint is still waiting for his next opportunity:

Take a look at the list of former New Orleans Saints players still searching for a new team in 2024 and one name stand apart from the rest: Michael Thomas. The former NFL Offensive Player of the Year and two-time All-Pro fell off hard after a series of complicated injuries and frustrating surgeries interrupted what looked like a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

And now, months after a high-profile split with the only NFL team he’s played for, Thomas is still waiting for his next opportunity. There isn’t another free agent with his credentials, but that injury history and public criticism of his coach, quarterback, and team training staff may have cooled interest he’d otherwise find on the open market.

Thomas is 31. He’s coming off another season-ending injury which he chalks up to a bad ball from Derek Carr. He’s only been available for 13 of the Saints’ 51 games since the 2020 season, when his ankle was painfully rolled up on while blocking in a blowout win, which started this whole mess. Thomas played through the injury to support Drew Brees in his last year before retirement, but he missed the entire 2021 season recovering from surgery. He went down with another injury three games into 2022, and was sidelined for the last seven games of 2023.

There aren’t many cases like his, but one situation to consider is Odell Beckham Jr. Like Thomas, he’s 31 years old and a three-time Pro Bowler, with a pair of All-Pro nods and an Offensive Rookie of the Year award to his name. He’s also caught 566 passes in his career compared to 565 for Thomas, though in 27 more games for four different teams. And Beckham has twice suffered serious knee injuries by tearing his ACL.

The second time happened in Super Bowl LVI, causing him to miss the subsequent 2022 season in recovery. Beckham didn’t sign with a team until well after the start of free agency in 2023, meeting with the Baltimore Ravens at NFL owners meetings in the spring, and he turned in a modest performance last season with 35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns. Compare that to what Thomas posted with the Saints — 39 receptions, 448 yards, and a single touchdown. Beckham went on to sign with the Miami Dolphins this offseason.

So does this mean Thomas may have to sit out the 2024 season before finding a new team, like Beckham did? Probably not. We don’t know how far along he is in recovery from last year’s injury but it was never expected to put him on ice for multiple seasons. But we may not see any movement until training camp. If there aren’t many suitors, or if Thomas is being selective about his next opportunity, it could take a while for him to find the right fit.

Either way, it’s so disappointing to see his career end up here. Thomas was on track to break every receiving record in Saints history while leaving his mark on NFL history. That injuries and personal conflicts have derailed what should have been something special. Time will tell where Thomas catches his next football. It’s just too bad it won’t happen while he’s wearing black and gold.

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Here’s how much salary cap space the Saints will save after June 1

The New Orleans Saints designed Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston as post-June 1 cuts. Here’s how much that will save them against the salary cap:

Early this offseason, the New Orleans Saints designed Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston as post-June 1 cuts, which is a mechanism that allows teams to release up to players (making them free agents) while spreading out the salary cap costs over this year and the next. The catch is that those savings won’t be felt until after June 1, and they’ll be offset by  other players taking Thomas and Winston’s place on the accounting books.

So with that date rapidly approaching, here’s how much those moves will save the Saints against the salary cap. Winston, who signed with the Cleveland Browns early in free agency, will still count against the cap by $3.38 million in 2024 and $7.3 million in 2025. Because his cap charge to this point has been $4.59 million, the Saints will receive a cap credit of $1.21 million on June 2.

They’ll receive the same savings for Thomas; until now, his 2024 cap hit has been $12.4 million. It’ll drop to $8.9 million for the rest of this season while leaving behind a $11.1 million dead money charge in 2025. Like a dozen other players from last year’s Saints team, he has yet to sign with a new squad.

So think of it this way. The Saints are going to receive a combined $2.42 million in salary cap savings this weekend while carrying about $18.4 million in dead money on the books in 2025 for both Thomas and Winston. That sounds like a lot, but with the 2025 salary cap projected to reach at least $260 million we’re talking about 7% of the cap, at most, going to two players no longer on the team.

What about this year? Right now, the Saints are sitting under the cap by roughly $5.7 million after signing all but one of their draft picks (second-round cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry, whose net cost to sign will ultimately be about $550,000). They’ll be in the clear by more than $5 million after getting these cap credits for Thomas and Winston, so it’s possible the Saints could make a trade or sign some more free agents before training camp with those extra resources. They could also choose to sit on that money and roll it over to help clear the 2025 salary cap, which would be responsible, but it’s more fun to speculate about new additions over the summer.

Update: The Saints signed McKinstry to his rookie contract, though the exact salary cap hit is yet to be reported. And as observed by Locked On Saints host Ross Jackson, the Saints didn’t save much against the cap on June 2. That’s because salary cap hits for Shane Lemieux ($1,055,000) and Jordan Howden ($996,682) took Thomas and Winston’s place on the top 51 contracts, offsetting the savings for a net gain of only about $368,318. OTC estimates the Saints to be under the cap by $5,473,316.

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ESPN picks a new team for former Saints All-Pro Michael Thomas

Michael Thomas is one of many former Saints players still available in free agency, but ESPN’s Matt Bowen has an idea of where he should take his talents:

Where will Michael Thomas be playing football in 2024? The former New Orleans Saints All-Pro is still waiting to find the right fit as a free agent, along with a dozen of his teammates from last year’s Saints team. With the clock ticking down until training camp, it’s looking like a long summer might be ahead of him until he finds the right landing spot.

ESPN’s Matt Bowen matched some of the best remaining free agents with possible team fits ahead of training camp, and he has a clear pick for Thomas. Here’s why he argues the Dallas Cowboys should give Thomas a call:

When healthy, Thomas can still uncover and work multiple levels of the field. However, the injury concerns are legit, as the 31-year-old wide receiver has played in just 20 games over the past four seasons. And while Thomas could wait until after camps start to find the best landing spot, let’s focus on Dallas as a possibility; he could make an impact there on a one-year deal.

In Mike McCarthy’s offense, Thomas could compete with Jalen Tolbert for the No. 3 role alongside CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks. He could align as a boundary X and show his ability to work the seams out of the slot. He caught 39 passes in 2023 for 448 yards and a score.

It’s an interesting fit for a couple of different reasons. For one thing, the Saints are going to Dallas in Week 2 this year, so Thomas would get an early shot at taking down his former team. For another, he would be reuniting with Brandin Cooks. Thomas and Cooks played together back in 2016, his rookie  year, and ironically it was Thomas taking targets away from Cooks that resulted in Cooks getting traded to the New England Patriots the next offseason.

How would Saints fans feel about this? Thomas has become a divisive figure among the fanbase for publicly criticizing Dennis Allen, Derek Carr, and the team medical staff on social media. The Cowboys are very much seen as rivals for the Saints given their proximity, and both fanbases always travel well to cheer on their team against one another. There would be some friction between some fans and their former favorite player, to say the least.

Still, this is all speculation at best. Thomas can still help a team win football games even with his extensive injury history, and chances are he’ll be playing somewhere in the fall. As to the odds of him suiting up for a team that’s competing against the Saints? That’s anyone’s guess.

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ESPN says Michael Thomas should reunite with ex-Saints coach Sean Payton

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell sees a “perfect fit” for Michael Thomas on the Broncos. Can he and Sean Payton get back on the same page?

It would be surprising to see Michael Thomas and Sean Payton wearing the same team’s colors again, but you never know. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell made the case for the former New Orleans Saints wide receiver to work with the ex-Saints head coach, saying that the Denver Broncos could be a perfect fit for Thomas as he searches for a new team.

“Denver’s roster is in flux as it rebuilds post-Russell Wilson,” Barnwell wrote, “but after trading Jerry Jeudy, it looks like it will run with Courtland Sutton and Marvin Mims as its top two wideouts. Tim Patrick took a pay cut to return, but he has missed each of the last two seasons with injuries. Thomas could reunite with former coach Sean Payton and compete with Patrick for that third wideout role.”

From a pure personnel perspective, it makes sense. The Broncos need a receiver. Thomas is a receiver. That’s a match, right?

Not so fast. Thomas’ relationship with Payton fractured over the years, with Thomas blaming Payton for the ankle injury that started his long-lasting medical issues; Thomas was asked to go out and block late in a blowout win, and to return quickly in order to help Drew Brees in the last year of his career. Thomas was set to leave the Saints after Payton stepped down from his post until Dennis Allen flew out to California to recruit him back to the team.

Payton also benched Thomas and fined him for fighting with a teammate in practice at one point, and there had been other pressures building behind the scenes. So it would be surprising to see the two of them together again. Still, if Thomas isn’t seeing many offers in free agency, this isn’t a possibility we should rule out.

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Misdemeanor charges against Michael Thomas were dismissed, says attorney

Misdemeanor charges stemming from a Nov. 2023 arrest against Michael Thomas were dropped on Wednesday, his attorney told ESPN:

Michael Thomas can move on. His attorney Daniel Becnel told ESPN’s Katherine Terrell on Wednesday that misdemeanor charges stemming from a Nov. 2023 arrest had been dropped due to insufficient evidence, meaning the former New Orleans Saints wide receiver can focus on the next step for his NFL career.

Thomas was charged on counts of simple battery and criminal mischief,  having been accused of shoving a contractor and throwing a brick at his windshield over a parking dispute outside his home in Kenner, La. But Becnel says there was no proof of an altercation.

“There was no assault, there was no brick thrown,” Becnel told Terrell. “This was a dispute between a contractor and his employees, who were blocking his driveway and who were parking and walking on his grass. It came to a head one day, but there was no criminality involved. That’s obvious by the lack of any type of civil suit, the lack of any type of property damage, the lack of any medical issues and the lack of any physical evidence that criminal action took place.”

Thomas was released from custody the same night he was arrested by the Kenner Police Department, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Saints’ road game with the Minnesota Vikings just two days later.

Now a free agent, Thomas is eager to move on with his career and find a fresh start in a new city on a new team. It’ll be interesting to see where the 2019 Offensive Player of the Year ends up, and whether he’ll be suiting up against his former teammates in 2024.

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Saints to release Jameis Winston, Michael Thomas in procedural moves Wednesday

As was expected, the Saints will release Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas in procedural moves on Wednesday. Here’s what it means for the salary cap:

We knew this was coming, but now it’s confirmed, and there’s no going back. The New Orleans Saints will be releasing quarterback Jameis Winston and wide receiver Michael Thomas on Wednesday with post-June 1 designations, per Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald, making both of them unrestricted free agents. A number of other players around the league are being let go with the same designation, including Odell Beckham Jr.

It’s unclear whether Thomas was given permission to begin speaking with other teams prior to being released, like Winston, but that’s a reasonable assumption. In Winston’s case, he already knows where he’ll be playing football in 2024: the Cleveland Browns. Winston has agreed to terms on a one-year deal worth up to $8.7 million. He’ll be backing up Deshaun Watson who is still recovering from season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder in 2023.

Teams are only allowed to designate two releases as post-June 1 cuts each offseason, which is done for accounting purposes to help manage the salary cap. Here are the remaining salary cap hits the Saints will carry in 2024 and 2025 after moving on from both players:

  • 2024: $15.69 million in total. $11.1 million (for Thomas) and $4.59 million (for Winston). This is about 6.1% of the salary cap
  • 2025: $16.54 million in total. $9.18 million (for Thomas) and $7.36 million (for Winston). This is about 5.9% of an estimated $280 million salary cap

It’s frustrating to lose so much salary cap space for players no longer on the roster, but that’s the cost of doing business sometimes. And things will get a little easier for the Saints on June 2, at which point they will get some cap relief. They’ll receive a $2.42 million cap credit for both players’ base salaries coming off the books, which can go towards signing their rookie draft class.

We’ll see what’s next for both of them, and for the Saints. Players come and go but the NFL’s calendar keeps moving on.

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