Now that the Saints have released Michael Thomas, how did the two sides get here?
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Katherine Terrell, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas spent his Saturday night reminiscing on social media.
Thomas wrote about the work he had done in the local community and posted pictures of himself playing in Caesars Superdome. He also reposted a picture of himself with retired quarterback Drew Brees and running back Alvin Kamara on the sideline that was captioned, “And then were was one…”
On Wednesday, New Orleans released Thomas as a post-June 1 cut, a formality as his exit had been forecasted for several months. It’s a move that shows the Saints are prepared to move forward with their young trio of wide receivers in Chris Olave, A.T. Perry and Rashid Shaheed.
Thomas posted multiple times on social media in the days ahead of his release, including a video from the Saints’ win against the Tennessee Titans on Dec. 22, 2019. In the clip, taken just minutes after he broke Marvin Harrison’s 17-year-old record for most catches in a season, he gave fans high-fives and signed a jersey.
Thomas was just 26 and had signed a record-breaking five-year, $97 million extension a few months prior. The path ahead looked bright, and the only question was how high he could keep raising the bar. He finished that season with 149 catches and 1,725 yards on his way to being named the Offensive Player of the Year. He earned his third consecutive Pro Bowl nod and second consecutive All-Pro honors.
He never reached those heights again, playing in just 21 regular-season games in the next four seasons. Thomas missed the entire 2021 season, and his 2022 season never got off the ground. Kamara, quarterback/tight end Taysom Hill and tight end Juwan Johnson are the last significant skill position players left on the roster from 2020 and 2021, seasons that preceded the arrival of coach Dennis Allen and his vision for the Saints’ offensive future.
From an integral part of the Saints to being released after eight seasons with the team that drafted him in 2016, health issues and off-the-field incidents ultimately led to the two sides parting ways.
FOUR PLAYS AWAY from sealing a 34-23 win in the Saints’ season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Thomas was blocking on a run play for Latavius Murray when Murray was tackled and fell into the back of Thomas’ knee. He fell awkwardly, eventually getting up and limping off, but he injured his ankle and missed the next few games.
His return was further delayed after he got into an altercation with teammate C.J. Gardner-Johnson at practice prior to the team’s Monday night game against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 5. Thomas was suspended by the team for his role in the fight, which involved throwing a punch at Gardner-Johnson and verbally snapping at then-coach Sean Payton.
“I was never healthy, I was just trying to help my team get a win and heal up during the bye,” Thomas wrote on X the night after the game. “Had a set back was so close. And I take my health serious. Now I’m a bad guy lol bet.”
Thomas returned in Week 9 to play six regular-season games, then was placed on injured reserve for the last three games of the season but played in the playoffs. He was expected to have surgery at the conclusion of the season to repair a torn deltoid and ligaments in his ankle, but he did not get the surgery until later in the summer.
That decision led to a public feud with Saints officials, including Payton, who said he wanted the surgery done earlier. The Saints were also upset at Thomas‘ lack of communication about his rehab throughout the offseason.
“It’s disappointing,” Payton said before training camp opened in 2021. “And we’ll work through it with the other players that are here. But the surgery took place, and obviously, we would’ve liked that to have happened earlier than later, and quite honestly it should have.”
In response, Thomas posted a vague statement on social media, writing: “They tried to damage your reputation. You saved theirs by not telling your side of the story.”
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) August 9, 2021
He also liked multiple posts that suggested the Saints urged him to play through his injury despite not being fully healthy in 2020.
Thomas was expected to return later that fall after beginning the season on the physically unable to perform list, but he had a setback that required another surgery and never played in the 2021 season.
Thomas did not publicly explain his decision until the following year, saying he was told by doctors that the ankle could heal without surgery.
“You go to two doctors, one person has an opinion, another person has an opinion. You have the right to pick an opinion,” he told reporters in 2022. “So if one of the opinions is you can rehab your ankle and it should be good by camp, and I’ve never had surgery, then I’m going to stick with that one. If that one doesn’t work, then I’m going to go with the second one. And that’s pretty much how it worked. I don’t write the opinion, I just have to pick one.”
THE SAINTS’ RELATIONSHIP with Thomas appeared to be on the mend when Allen took over as coach prior to the 2022 season. Allen made it a priority to fly to California, where Thomas spent his offseason, to get to know him better.
Thomas got off to a fast start after catching three touchdowns in the first two games in his first season without Brees. But he dislocated his toe in the third game of the season, requiring another surgery that ended his year.
It was another disappointment for Thomas, who had missed only one game because of injury between 2016 to 2019. Kamara defended him after Thomas received criticism for his injuries, saying that he “got hit with some unlucky things.”
“I just saw a couple of comments in the media about him,” Karam said in 2022. “Basically like, ‘You can’t trust him. He’s not being honest about his injury, why is he waiting until now to be ruled out?’ I’m like, ‘Man, nobody knows what we go through in here.’ The masses get to see Sunday. It’s a lot of s— we’ve got to go through. A player like that, that’s fighting to get back, not only for his team, but for the fans and for this city … for people to be talking s—, it’s like, ah, it hurts my soul to see that.”
Thomas told ESPN in 2023 that his recovery took an extended time for both the ankle and the toe because his body had a stress reaction to the hardware inserted to fix it.
“Your body responds and healing responds to it. Whatever, I guess, is the 1%? I guess I’m in that category,” Thomas said.
THERE WAS SPECULATION Thomas could be released in 2023 because of his injury history and $28 million salary cap hit. The Saints reworked his contract twice that offseason, eventually reworking the initial contract signed in 2019 into what both sides viewed as a one-year deal, although he remained under contract for 2024.
Thomas had been set to earn a minimum of $15.5 million under the terms of the initial deal, with the potential for multiple bonuses based on availability and performance. The new deal required him to prove himself again, paying him just $1.2 million. Thomas could earn up to $7 million in performance-based incentives.
The contract had massive future guarantees of more than $119 million that would trigger if Thomas remained on the roster on the third day of the 2024 league year. While Thomas was never intended to actually hit those guarantees, the structure of the contract ensured the team would have to come up with a new deal if Thomas played well or release him if he didn’t.
Thomas signed his contract just days after the Saints inked a deal with free agent quarterback Derek Carr, who gushed about Thomas in his opening news conference. The two appeared to hit it off immediately, and by the time training camp began, a healthy Thomas looked like he was on his way back to a comeback.
But things soured by November. Thomas was arrested on misdemeanor charges of simple battery and criminal mischief after throwing a brick at a local contractor’s car.
The Saints lost to the Minnesota Vikings two days later, and Thomas injured his knee two plays into the game. Thomas missed the final seven games of the season and appeared to take vague shots at Carr on X during New Orleans’ loss to the Detroit Lions two weeks after his injury.
“When your eyes don’t work you get people hurt it’s no mystery. And it’s something that needs to be studied,” Thomas wrote, before deactivating his account near the end of the game.
Thomas took more blatant jabs at Carr on X after the season ended in January, saying that he would have had an 1,000-yard season if not for a “bad ball” that led to the injury.
“On top of that they wasn’t even trying to get me the ball but it’s no denying my style of play it dont age playa you will see,” he wrote.
The posts prompted a public response from Carr, who said he wished that Thomas would have called him instead of voicing his disappointment publicly.
“I hope Mike finds what he’s looking for,” Carr said on the “Two G’s in a Pod” podcast. “I hope he gets everything he wants in life, because I do love Mike. In that moment, I didn’t really like it. Just call me bro. To say all these things. I felt like we were doing some middle school thing. Just talk to me, and Mike was great about talking to me, but in that moment, that’s why I just try to and stay off social media. Man, there’s so much love, there’s so much hate, just try to stay off it.”
Privately, the Saints’ staff had grown tired of Thomas’ outbursts on social media. Still, Thomas appeared to take issue with a report last week on X, accusing the Saints of leaking information to ruin players’ values.
“They gone call you crazy, but it’s ok to not take no disrespect,” he wrote in a series of social media posts. “Respect comes first. Until y’all go catch 149 in 16 games more 15 but I will give you 16 . Holla at me GREAT IS GREAT.”
They gone call you crazy, but it’s ok to not take no disrespect.
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) March 7, 2024
Thomas pinned one post at the top of his profile during his rant, appearing to take shots at Allen, who has a 24-46 coaching record between the Saints and the Las Vegas Raiders.
“it’s because we not yes man so we cancers but under a winning coach we are looked at differently,” Thomas wrote. “It’s a mentality that makes loser’s uncomfortable because they use to losing all they career.”
THOMAS LEAVES THE Saints ranked fourth in franchise history for receiving yards (6,569), seventh in receiving touchdowns (36) and second in receptions (565). He holds multiple franchise records and several NFL records, including the fewest games to record 300, 400 and 500 career receptions.
With Thomas’ exit, it also closes the book on the other half of one one of the most successful pairings in Saints’ history. Thomas was Brees’ main target during their record-setting runs in 2018 and 2019, catching 42% of Brees’ passes. When Brees retired, Thomas posted a heartfelt tribute on his Instagram account.
“To be able to break the record for most catches in a season in NFL history and also to become only the 2nd WR to win OPOY in NFL history after that season was amazing,” Thomas wrote. “Then to have you be able to present the award to me made it that much more special.
“The list goes on and on, the things we accomplished and the records we set. You were my match. We were the best QB/WR duo for multiple years, despite only having a relatively short period of time together.”
In August, a now retired Brees showed up to Saints training camp when they were practicing in California and reminisced on the team’s official podcast.
“It’s hard not to sit there and look at Kamara, [free agent tight end] Jimmy [Graham] and Mike T, and say, ‘These three guys, right?’ The moments that I had with them, if you could just bottle that up, right? That was pretty special,” Brees said.
