Good news: the New Orleans Saints aren’t anticipated to trade superstar wide receiver Michael Thomas this season, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Rapoport said in a recent TV spot, “Well it seems the curiosity and saga for Michael Thomas, the Saints standout receiver, is coming to a close in a positive way for all parties.”
After missing the better part of two years to an ankle injury, delayed surgery, and subsequent setback, Thomas has spent “considerable time” receiving weekly treatment on his twice-repaired ankle in New York before returning to New Orleans in preparation for 2022. Rapoport adds that Thomas has been updating the Saints on his progress.
That’s a far cry from where both sides were just a year ago, when Thomas inexplicably put off surgery and didn’t return calls from the team for months. It sure sounds like any enmity between Thomas and the Saints left with Sean Payton. He and first-year head coach Dennis Allen appear to be on the same page, and the two-time first team All-Pro receiver is focused on returning to the focal point of New Orleans’ passing attack.
Thomas racked up 1,725 receiving yards in 2019, the last time he was healthy; in 2021, the top three Saints receivers (Marquez Callaway, Deonte Harris, and Tre’Quan Smith) combined for 1,645 yards on the season. Now it’s up to Allen to hire a receivers coach who can help Thomas return to form, and to bring in a play-calling offensive coordinator who can put him in the best position to make an impact.
Financially, it makes a lot of sense for both sides to bury the hatchet here. Thomas carries a $24.7 million salary cap hit this season — second-highest on the team, most of which is bundled into his $15.35 million base salary. If the Saints cut or trade Thomas prior to June 1, they’ll only save $2 million against the cap (and lose $22.7 million in dead money, for a player not on their roster). They could recoup $15.8 million by waiting until after June 1 to offload him, but what good would that do them after free agency in March and the draft in April?
Instead, look for the Saints to restructure that $15.35 million salary and $450,000 in assorted bonuses into a new signing bonus, which frees up more than $9.8 million against the cap. That could drop Thomas’ cap hit from $24.7 million down to $14.8 million. The downside is it raises his cap hits in 2023 and 2024 by $4.9 million in each year, approaching totals of $30 million in each season. That looks like tough waters to navigate on the surface, but if Thomas stays healthy and productive and on good terms with the team, they can find ways to continue working around it.
So it’s shaping up for another year in black and gold for 2019’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year. The Saints still don’t know who they’ll have dropping back to pass, but it’s awful reassuring to imagine that quarterback (whoever it ends up being) targeting Thomas as often as they can. He’s on track to remind the league on just what they’ve been missing.
