Michael Thomas agrees to restructured contract

BakoSaint · 04-18-2023, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by AsylumGuido

Michael Thomas "made a difference" as recently as last season. A huge difference, scoring all but one of the Saints four TD's in the first two games before suffering the season ending injury in week three. That seems to hint at having something left, don't you think?

It may be more accurate to say that the last time Michael Thomas was able to stay healthy and remain on the field was 4 years ago. When back, he has flashed ability, but not been able to maintain availability. He is like Chad Pennington as a WR. Pennington had the the ability. The likelihood is not that Michael Thomas plays 17 games and looks like Trequan Smith, its that he plays 3 games and looks like Michael Thomas and forces us to adjust our roster, playbook, and game plans from week 4 on when he peaces out again, and we lose a good receiver we cut to hold his spot, we waste $10 million on his salary, and we tick off all the receivers below him who get demoted down a level with his return for 3 games and then promoted back and feel that we didn't really want them in their roles. He could decline someday and become Trequan too, but for now he is a great talent that can't stay healthy with a very physical style of play. He can dead lift all he wants, but I am not confident that means anything about his ability to avoid injury cutting, going vertical, and absorbing hits.

Also it's important to keep Thomas' 3 TDs last year in perspective. In those 2 games we played two teams that finished below .500 and we went 1-1 against them, with the only win coming in a late comeback against a rebuilding Falcons team. He helped us perform in the 4th quarter against the Falcons but didn't do much the first 3 quarters. Then he helped us score a total of 10 points in losing to the later 8-9 Bucs. So yes he had a nice stretch with 3 TDs in two games. But still he just racked some stats up against bad teams in games where we mostly struggled on offense anyway. At no point did he make our offense appear to be a juggernaut, more like he looked like the Brandin Cooks of our Texans-caliber offense. We didn't get enough sample size to know if he is Justin Jefferson or Brandin Cooks at this point in ability to produce. So, I don't think thats worth gambling $10-15 million on 20% chance of availability because he would not be worth $50-75 million a year if fully healthy but still inconsistent and producing bursts of stats against sub-.500 teams.

04-18-2023, 04:50 PM	#11
BakoSaint 1000 Posts + Join Date: Dec 2018 Posts: 2,390	Re: Michael Thomas agrees to restructured contract Originally Posted by AsylumGuido Michael Thomas "made a difference" as recently as last season. A huge difference, scoring all but one of the Saints four TD's in the first two games before suffering the season ending injury in week three. That seems to hint at having something left, don't you think? It may be more accurate to say that the last time Michael Thomas was able to stay healthy and remain on the field was 4 years ago. When back, he has flashed ability, but not been able to maintain availability. He is like Chad Pennington as a WR. Pennington had the the ability. The likelihood is not that Michael Thomas plays 17 games and looks like Trequan Smith, its that he plays 3 games and looks like Michael Thomas and forces us to adjust our roster, playbook, and game plans from week 4 on when he peaces out again, and we lose a good receiver we cut to hold his spot, we waste $10 million on his salary, and we tick off all the receivers below him who get demoted down a level with his return for 3 games and then promoted back and feel that we didn't really want them in their roles. He could decline someday and become Trequan too, but for now he is a great talent that can't stay healthy with a very physical style of play. He can dead lift all he wants, but I am not confident that means anything about his ability to avoid injury cutting, going vertical, and absorbing hits. Also it's important to keep Thomas' 3 TDs last year in perspective. In those 2 games we played two teams that finished below .500 and we went 1-1 against them, with the only win coming in a late comeback against a rebuilding Falcons team. He helped us perform in the 4th quarter against the Falcons but didn't do much the first 3 quarters. Then he helped us score a total of 10 points in losing to the later 8-9 Bucs. So yes he had a nice stretch with 3 TDs in two games. But still he just racked some stats up against bad teams in games where we mostly struggled on offense anyway. At no point did he make our offense appear to be a juggernaut, more like he looked like the Brandin Cooks of our Texans-caliber offense. We didn't get enough sample size to know if he is Justin Jefferson or Brandin Cooks at this point in ability to produce. So, I don't think thats worth gambling $10-15 million on 20% chance of availability because he would not be worth $50-75 million a year if fully healthy but still inconsistent and producing bursts of stats against sub-.500 teams.
BakoSaint 1000 Posts + Join Date: Dec 2018 Posts: 2,390