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.
