The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

As mentioned in my previous post, the Saints are releasing MT.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

I knew this was coming when they did that one year contract last offseason.
Hell of a receiver

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

MT has played probably 11 games since 2020. It's time to take a big pay cut or move on.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Dang Jeff Duncan is catching strays and I didn't even feel he was the biggest MT basher

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Glad this dude is finally gone.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

One effect of the contracts not automatically voiding and not expiring but having these weird clauses is that the Saints salary cap does not show any dead money and some personalities have bragged that the Saints have the least dead money of any team for 2024. But its smoke and mirrors. The insane $100 million bonuses don't show on our 2025 cap but they do allow it to appear like the players are active and under contract with no dead money.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

I called it over 3 years ago. Waste of money and uniform space. :beatnik:

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Is that a Mapcow sigh I just heard?

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

more of a laugh. :beatnik:

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Hope he don't stub his toe on his way out. :beatnik:

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

I've got to agree with Thomas here. Duncan has turned into a complete hack.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

It's because people are dense.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Edit: Maybe this structure allows him to be designated as a Post-June-1 cut and a contract that voided automatically on day 3 of the league year would not have? If this is the key difference it would have been helpful if any of the twitter personalities or articles went to any effort to highlight it versus the million other factors for which an automatic void would have accomplished the same thing.

I am genuinely not sure what the point of Michael Thomas's elaborate contract structure is. It pays him giant insane bonuses if he is on the roster on the 3rd day of the league year, rather than simply having a void year. I believe any previous bonuses and salaries could have been prorated over 5 years even if it has been simply structured as a void year instead.

It has been presented in the past as a structure that would force the team to either cut him, or to negotiate a new contract had he played well in 2023. So it was not per se 'always a one year deal and he was gone' but at one point it was a one year deal with a plan to negotiate again after a year and possibly stay. But a void year or the contract simply expiring would have allowed renegotiation before release too, there is nothing special about crazy insane bonus triggers than uniquely allows future negotiations. I guess the contract expiring would have happened 48 hours sooner than a simple expiration, so slightly less time to renegotiate, but I am not sure how that little time should matter, unless the Saints wanted 48 hours to pursue other receivers and then maybe resign Thomas. But I believe a void year could be structured to void on the 3rd day of the league year too, Cousins is set to void on the second day without the bonus insanity.

Duncan is a Saints columnist and should probably know better but I would not blame everyone who is confused by this contract structure when I am not sure what its objectives and effects actually are versus adding a void on the same day. It appears to falsely make the Saints dead cap look lower since the player is technically under contract and tracking sites are not set up to handle it the same as a void or factor in the hypothetical bonus. It might make Thomas not count for compensatory pick formulas since it sets up a willing cut not expiration or void, which would hurt the Saints and slightly help Thomas, since other teams could sign him without hurting their chance of receiving comp picks. But if its an innovation in the favor of the player and against the team, I would credit Thomas and his agent with being innovative and our front office with finding a new way to be pushed over. I don't think it would affect whether or not we could have franchise tagged Thomas if he had a career year, I think he would have been untaggable just the same as long as the void was set to trigger a day after the start of the league year, as Kirk Cousins does. They could also simply have inserted a no franchise tag clause into the deal like Danielle Hunter has.

The structure would also seem to carry some black swan risk for the Saints. What would happen if for some reason the team could not send in the paperwork and the bonus triggered? This happened once with an agent failing to send in paperwork to void TO's contract. I assume the contract had no protection for injury, but in certain limited cases if Thomas had been in a legal dispute with the team or if there was a national emergency or something, things could go wrong. The automatic void on the same day just seems safer and simpler.

So if there is no reason for MT's complicated contract structure as compared to an automatic void on the same day, and its only point is to be deliberately confusing, I can't totally blame everyone who is confused.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Explanation for the "elaborate contract structure".

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

All facts.

That 4 season stretch at the beginning of his career was fire though, but the LAST 3 years, Michael Thomas hasn't done much to help the Saints on Sundays.

As you stated, move on.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

should've made him a free agent, ex-saint over 3 years ago. cut bait. :beatnik:

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Inevitable and expected outcome. Such a fall and a shame from the year he set his all time record with Brees. It can't just be the injury he sustained, can it? How did he drop off so much and lose so much since then?

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

I think Brees retiring just reinforces how Brees’s skill sets and accuracy elevated most all receivers play beyond what we saw with other QB’s.

After the Kneeling fallout, no commo with team during 1st off season injury period and his social media eruptions it’s truly past due for this separation to take place.

Thanks for the good years wish you well but can’t stay on the field and too many red flags 🚩

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

MT is bordering on Antonio Brown behavior.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

I agree brother. I think if he would have been more humble, the fans would have embraced him and been more understanding of the injuries that he has sustained.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

LOL!

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

+1.

His mouth & twitter feeds outweigh the production on the field as of late.

Bye.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

AB has CTE to fall back on (Post Burfict hit that knocked his screws lose!). MT has always been a bit of an egomaniac. Moreso, since he just started being a part time player collecting a full time check!

Bye Felicia.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

some people are confused... you are either a SAINT fan or a player fan. :beatnik: that quido dude/chick comes to mind.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Was MT the one who threw a brick at a construction workers truck?

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Yep … Pretty sure he miss 😜

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Would you have cashed the check if you were injured? If anyone here says they wouldn't then they're lying.

:D

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

I am having serious doubts this guy will ever play in the NFL again. The way this guy is acting out is just incredibly dumb.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Pretty sure he will have a shot but his contract will probably be heavily incentive based with games available weighted in to the package. Could also be possible being a vested veteran he would be cut prior to 1st week of the season and signed after that week so his contract is not guaranteed.

The social media throwing team mates, team and staff under the Bus will not help his situation. Add to the fact that it appears MT still views himself as “Can’t Guard Mike” the #1 option and that Bus has left the station.

In the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Can't guard Mike left four years ago. All that's left is a tweet trash talking has been. Buh Bye!

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Like a fart in the wind, ... MT will be forgotten. :beatnik:

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

...and of course you KNOW this. uh.... no. :beatnik:

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

Amen. Ain't it the truth.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

uh....no. surprised quido has not started the "pick up Wilson chant" By Prima Donna Mike.... :beatnik:

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

When it comes to ‘agenda’ accusations, two ‘great minds’ think alike.

Re: The Saints are parting ways with Michael Thomas
 

DIVA!!!:praise: