The New Orleans Saints are optimistic that they will get their star wideout Michael Thomas back on the field in time for training camp. This was confirmed by the team’s new head coach Dennis Allen during a chat with reporters at the Saints’ voluntary organized team activities.

Thomas has been hampered by a series of ankle injuries in the past couple of years. He only played seven games in 2020 and then missed the entire 2021 after opting to undergo ankle surgery. The Saints initially expected Thomas back at some point last season, but several setbacks ended up keeping him off the field.  

Speaking about Thomas on Friday, Allen said that the 29-year-old player is progressing well in rehab. The three-time Pro Bowler has been with the team despite not being able to participate in OTAs and is “working his tail off to get himself back.”

“If I had a crystal ball and could tell you all these things, I’d probably be making a lot more money and doing something different,” Allen said. “But, yeah, our hope is that he’s gonna be ready to go for training camp. So that’s what we’re pushing for.”

Before the injuries derailed his career, Michael Thomas was considered one of the best wide receivers in the league. After entering the NFL in 2016 as a second-round pick, Thomas delivered four consecutive seasons with 90+ receptions and 1,100+ receiving yards. In addition, he was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 after breaking the record for most receptions in a single season with 149.

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The bad news keeps on coming in for the New Orleans Saints. After losing their starting quarterback Jameis Winston to an ACL injury on Sunday, the Saints now found out that they will also be without their star wideout Michael Thomas for the remainder of 2021.

Thomas confirmed the news on Wednesday via a statement posted on his Twitter profile. In the post, the 28-year-old revealed that he experienced “another small setback” while rehabbing his surgically repaired ankle.

“To my displeasure, I will not be able to make it back in time for this season but will do everything in my power to get back to the player I have always been,” Thomas added in a statement that was later retweeted by the official Saints’ Twitter account.

Michael Thomas injured his left ankle in the 2020 season opener, and the issue ended up limiting him to just seven games. Thomas then elected to have surgery on the ankle during the offseason, although his decision to postpone it until the summer didn’t sit well with the Saints. He started the 2021 campaign on a physically unable to perform list and targeted Week 7 return to the field before the most recent setback.

Thomas has been one of the best wide receivers in the game since being drafted by the Saints in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He made 510 career catches for 5,950 yards and 32 touchdowns in his first five years in the league.

The post Pro Bowl WR Michael Thomas Experiences Rehab Setback, Out For 2021 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints are expected to be without their No. 1 wideout Michael Thomas at the start of the 2021 NFL campaign. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Saints will place Thomas on the physically unable to perform list, which causes the player to be ineligible for the first six weeks of the regular season.

As Schefter points out, Thomas only has to miss five games before returning as the Saints have an early bye week. The 28-year-old star is currently recovering from ankle surgery.

Thomas is expected to be at the Saints’ disposal as soon as he’s eligible, as head coach Sean Payton told reporters that the Pro Bowler is recovering faster than expected. Until then, New Orleans is expected to lean on their 2018 third-round pick Tre’Quan Smith and sophomore wideout Marquez Callaway.

After missing only one game in his first four years in the league, Michael Thomas missed a total of nine games in 2020. He suffered a high ankle sprain in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and didn’t return until Week 9. The injury continued to bother Thomas throughout the season, and he had one more stint on the injured reserves later on. He finished the campaign with 40 catches for 438 yards and zero touchdowns.

In order to deal with the lingering ankle injury, Thomas decided to undergo surgery in June. But the timing of the injury ended up causing a rift between him and the organization, as the Saints believed he should have had the procedure earlier in the offseason. Still, the two sides reportedly got back on the same page after several conversations.

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New Orleans Saints star wide receiver Michael Thomas is expected to have several surgeries this offseason to repair his injured ankle.

Thomas suffered a torn deltoid and injured several other ligaments this season. According to sources, Thomas played through the injury because he wanted to be a part of quarterback Drew Brees’ last season and try to win a Super Bowl with him.

Brees is expected to retire this offseason after a 20-year career.

Thomas is expected to recover from the surgeries in time for summer OTAs and should be ready to start Week 1 of the 2021 season.

The star receiver suffered the initial high ankle injury in Week 1 and missed a total of nine games before coming back, even though he clearly wasn’t completely healthy. Thomas often didn’t practice the entire week and then played games with the help of pain medication.

He went back on the injured reserve for Weeks 15-17 in an effort to get ready for the playoffs. The Saints were able to defeat the Chicago Bears in the first round of the playoffs but fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, a game in which Thomas had zero catches on four targets.

Thomas set an NFL record in 2019 with 149 catches in the regular season. In 2020, he only had 40 catches for 438 yards and no touchdowns.

The post New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas to Undergo Multiple Surgeries This Offseason appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints offense has not looked good in the last two weeks without their best player, wide receiver Michael Thomas.

Thomas is currently out with a high ankle sprain, but is making progress and could be back on the field in Week 4 to face the Detroit Lions. According to reports from practice, Thomas has looked good and is moving really well getting in and out of his cuts.

While the Saints obviously need Thomas back in the lineup, they might decide to keep him off the field until Week 7 to fully recover. The Saints have two more games before their bye week comes, which would give Thomas a whole six weeks of recovery time while only missing four games.

The New Orleans offense has looked sloppy and has had to rely on short passes and screens over the last two weeks, dropping both games to the Los Vegas Raiders and the Green Bay Packers after winning their first game of the season against the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.

Quarterback Drew Brees, who is now 41 years old and no longer the gunslinger he once was, needs Thomas, who has been his safety net, the Saints most productive player, and one of the best receivers in the entire league over the last several years.

The post Saints Star WR Michael Thomas Eyes Week 4 Return from Injury appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints offense is going to have to play without their best playmaker for a few weeks.

According to the team, star wide receiver Michael Thomas has an ankle injury and will be out for a few weeks recovering from the injury. The injury is believed to be a high sprain, which he suffered in Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.

Earlier reports claim that Thomas initially thought that he would be able to play through the injury, but it seems that this won’t be the case.

The Saints are going to have to get creative and spread the ball around in order to make up for Thomas’s absence. Even when Thomas doesn’t get the ball a lot and put up big numbers, the attention that opposing defenses focus on stopping him usually opens up other players.

Thomas is a three-time Pro-Bowler and has led the league in catches in both of the last two years. He is also incredibly durable, having only missed one game since being drafted in 2016.

In 2019, Thomas set the single-season receptions record with 149 catches for 1,725 yards and nine touchdowns.

Next for the Saints is a Monday night matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The post Saints Star WR Michael Thomas to Miss Several Weeks with Ankle Injury appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints’ wideout Michael Thomas has already set some big goals for himself ahead of the 2020 NFL season. After breaking the NFL’s single-season reception record in 2019, Thomas wants to do it again this year.

Thomas finished the past season with 149 catches, surpassing Marvin Harrison’s all-time record of 143. The 27-year-old player also did this in just 15 games, which is why he believes he can be even better in 2020.

“Yeah, I think I can break it again,” Thomas told the Saints’ official website over the weekend.

It wouldn’t be a big surprise if Thomas managed to pull this off somehow, as his season receptions numbers increased in each year since he entered the league in 2016.

“It’s just kind of like what I do,” said Thomas. “At my position, I set real high goals and try to accomplish them along with winning football games, and helping out the people around me.”

So far, Michael Thomas has been pretty successful in achieving high goals. He already holds the NFL records for most receptions in player’s first two, first three, and first four seasons in the league. He never had less than 1,137 receiving yards, and in 2019 he had a career-high and league-leading 1,725 receiving yards.

Thomas has three Pro Bowl appearances and two First-team All-Pro selections. He also has NFL Offensive Player of the Year award from last season, becoming the first wide receiver since legendary Jerry Rice to get it. 

The post Saints’ WR Michael Thomas Aims to Break NFL’s Reception Record Again appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Baltimore Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson tops the annual list of the 100 best players in the league put together by NFL Network. Jackson was not even on the list in 2019 despite winning the starting job midway through the 2018 season and taking Baltimore to the playoffs.

Jackson showed significant improvement in every facet of his game in 2019, breaking numerous records on his way to being named league MVP.

Jackson rushed for 1,206 rushing yards in 2019, the most yards for a quarterback in a single season in NFL history. The dual-threat signal-caller also passed for 3,127 yards, making him the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 3,000 and rush for more than 1,000 yards in the same season.

The top five of the 2020 list was rounded out by Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson at no. 2, the league’s best defender, and last year’s no. 1 player, Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald at no. 3, Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the 2019 champions Kansas City Chiefs at no. 4, and the NFL’s most consistently productive wide receiver of the last several years, Micheal Thomas of the New Orleans Saints, at no. 5.

The annual NFL Network list is put together based on an offseason polling of NFL players in which they vote on fellow players based on their performances during the last NFL season.

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New Orleans Saints’ wide receiver Michael Thomas decided to sit out the start of the team’s training camp in order to leverage a new contract. Thomas’ tactic proved to be fruitful, as Saints’ acted swiftly and presented him with a record-breaking extension.

According to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, Saints and Thomas agreed to a five-year extension worth $100 million with $61 million guaranteed. This makes the 26-year-old Pro Bowler the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history with $20 million annual salary. The previous record was held by Odell Beckham Jr., whose contract nets him $18 million per year on average.

Thomas was entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2019 and was set to make $1.148 million this season.

There is no doubt that Michael Thomas, who was the 47th pick in 2016, deserved to get paid. Since entering the league, Thomas was Saints’ best receiver and has established himself as one of the best WRs in the game. In the past three years, he had 321 receptions for 3,787 yards and 23 touchdowns.

In 2018 alone, Thomas led the league in receptions with 125 while having career-high 1,405 receiving touchdowns. This brought him his second Pro Bowl appearances and First-team All-Pro honors.

The post WR Michael Thomas Gets Record 5-Year, $100 Million Extension from Saints appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Despite extending several key players during the offseason, New Orleans Saints still have an unfinished job this summer. This includes giving a new contract to their Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Thomas.

Although Saints have already engaged in talks with the 26-year-old wideout, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal, the two sides are not close to an agreement. One of the reasons for this is that Thomas looks to become the highest paid WR in the history of the league.

Jeff Duncan of Nola.com recently gave an update about the contract negotiations between two sides, and according to his findings, there is a significant gap between what Thomas wants and what the Saints are willing to offer.

Duncan reports that Michael Thomas’ agent presented the New Orleans with a new request for $22 million annual salary, with the initial demands being even bigger. Saints, on the other hand, have increased their offer to $18 million per year, and it is unclear how much further they are willing to go.

Cleveland Browns’ Odell Beckham Jr. is currently the highest paid wideout in football with $18 million per year, with Raiders’ Antonio Brown coming at second place with $16.7 million.

Thomas had a career year in 2018, leading the NFL with 125 receptions while making his first First-Team All-Pro appearance. He also had 1,405 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in the regular season while adding 207 yards and one TD in two postseason games.

The post Saints’ Michael Thomas Looking to Become the Highest Paid WR in the NFL appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints are optimistic that they will get their star wideout Michael Thomas back on the field in time for training camp. This was confirmed by the team’s new head coach Dennis Allen during a chat with reporters at the Saints’ voluntary organized team activities.

Thomas has been hampered by a series of ankle injuries in the past couple of years. He only played seven games in 2020 and then missed the entire 2021 after opting to undergo ankle surgery. The Saints initially expected Thomas back at some point last season, but several setbacks ended up keeping him off the field.  

Speaking about Thomas on Friday, Allen said that the 29-year-old player is progressing well in rehab. The three-time Pro Bowler has been with the team despite not being able to participate in OTAs and is “working his tail off to get himself back.”

“If I had a crystal ball and could tell you all these things, I’d probably be making a lot more money and doing something different,” Allen said. “But, yeah, our hope is that he’s gonna be ready to go for training camp. So that’s what we’re pushing for.”

Before the injuries derailed his career, Michael Thomas was considered one of the best wide receivers in the league. After entering the NFL in 2016 as a second-round pick, Thomas delivered four consecutive seasons with 90+ receptions and 1,100+ receiving yards. In addition, he was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 after breaking the record for most receptions in a single season with 149.

The post Saints Expect Star WR Michael Thomas Back for Training Camp appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The bad news keeps on coming in for the New Orleans Saints. After losing their starting quarterback Jameis Winston to an ACL injury on Sunday, the Saints now found out that they will also be without their star wideout Michael Thomas for the remainder of 2021.

Thomas confirmed the news on Wednesday via a statement posted on his Twitter profile. In the post, the 28-year-old revealed that he experienced “another small setback” while rehabbing his surgically repaired ankle.

“To my displeasure, I will not be able to make it back in time for this season but will do everything in my power to get back to the player I have always been,” Thomas added in a statement that was later retweeted by the official Saints’ Twitter account.

Michael Thomas injured his left ankle in the 2020 season opener, and the issue ended up limiting him to just seven games. Thomas then elected to have surgery on the ankle during the offseason, although his decision to postpone it until the summer didn’t sit well with the Saints. He started the 2021 campaign on a physically unable to perform list and targeted Week 7 return to the field before the most recent setback.

Thomas has been one of the best wide receivers in the game since being drafted by the Saints in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He made 510 career catches for 5,950 yards and 32 touchdowns in his first five years in the league.

The post Pro Bowl WR Michael Thomas Experiences Rehab Setback, Out For 2021 appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints are expected to be without their No. 1 wideout Michael Thomas at the start of the 2021 NFL campaign. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Saints will place Thomas on the physically unable to perform list, which causes the player to be ineligible for the first six weeks of the regular season.

As Schefter points out, Thomas only has to miss five games before returning as the Saints have an early bye week. The 28-year-old star is currently recovering from ankle surgery.

Thomas is expected to be at the Saints’ disposal as soon as he’s eligible, as head coach Sean Payton told reporters that the Pro Bowler is recovering faster than expected. Until then, New Orleans is expected to lean on their 2018 third-round pick Tre’Quan Smith and sophomore wideout Marquez Callaway.

After missing only one game in his first four years in the league, Michael Thomas missed a total of nine games in 2020. He suffered a high ankle sprain in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and didn’t return until Week 9. The injury continued to bother Thomas throughout the season, and he had one more stint on the injured reserves later on. He finished the campaign with 40 catches for 438 yards and zero touchdowns.

In order to deal with the lingering ankle injury, Thomas decided to undergo surgery in June. But the timing of the injury ended up causing a rift between him and the organization, as the Saints believed he should have had the procedure earlier in the offseason. Still, the two sides reportedly got back on the same page after several conversations.

The post Saints to Be Without WR Michael Thomas at Start of Season appeared first on SportzBonanza.

New Orleans Saints star wide receiver Michael Thomas is expected to have several surgeries this offseason to repair his injured ankle.

Thomas suffered a torn deltoid and injured several other ligaments this season. According to sources, Thomas played through the injury because he wanted to be a part of quarterback Drew Brees’ last season and try to win a Super Bowl with him.

Brees is expected to retire this offseason after a 20-year career.

Thomas is expected to recover from the surgeries in time for summer OTAs and should be ready to start Week 1 of the 2021 season.

The star receiver suffered the initial high ankle injury in Week 1 and missed a total of nine games before coming back, even though he clearly wasn’t completely healthy. Thomas often didn’t practice the entire week and then played games with the help of pain medication.

He went back on the injured reserve for Weeks 15-17 in an effort to get ready for the playoffs. The Saints were able to defeat the Chicago Bears in the first round of the playoffs but fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, a game in which Thomas had zero catches on four targets.

Thomas set an NFL record in 2019 with 149 catches in the regular season. In 2020, he only had 40 catches for 438 yards and no touchdowns.

The post New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas to Undergo Multiple Surgeries This Offseason appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints offense has not looked good in the last two weeks without their best player, wide receiver Michael Thomas.

Thomas is currently out with a high ankle sprain, but is making progress and could be back on the field in Week 4 to face the Detroit Lions. According to reports from practice, Thomas has looked good and is moving really well getting in and out of his cuts.

While the Saints obviously need Thomas back in the lineup, they might decide to keep him off the field until Week 7 to fully recover. The Saints have two more games before their bye week comes, which would give Thomas a whole six weeks of recovery time while only missing four games.

The New Orleans offense has looked sloppy and has had to rely on short passes and screens over the last two weeks, dropping both games to the Los Vegas Raiders and the Green Bay Packers after winning their first game of the season against the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.

Quarterback Drew Brees, who is now 41 years old and no longer the gunslinger he once was, needs Thomas, who has been his safety net, the Saints most productive player, and one of the best receivers in the entire league over the last several years.

The post Saints Star WR Michael Thomas Eyes Week 4 Return from Injury appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints offense is going to have to play without their best playmaker for a few weeks.

According to the team, star wide receiver Michael Thomas has an ankle injury and will be out for a few weeks recovering from the injury. The injury is believed to be a high sprain, which he suffered in Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.

Earlier reports claim that Thomas initially thought that he would be able to play through the injury, but it seems that this won’t be the case.

The Saints are going to have to get creative and spread the ball around in order to make up for Thomas’s absence. Even when Thomas doesn’t get the ball a lot and put up big numbers, the attention that opposing defenses focus on stopping him usually opens up other players.

Thomas is a three-time Pro-Bowler and has led the league in catches in both of the last two years. He is also incredibly durable, having only missed one game since being drafted in 2016.

In 2019, Thomas set the single-season receptions record with 149 catches for 1,725 yards and nine touchdowns.

Next for the Saints is a Monday night matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The post Saints Star WR Michael Thomas to Miss Several Weeks with Ankle Injury appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The New Orleans Saints’ wideout Michael Thomas has already set some big goals for himself ahead of the 2020 NFL season. After breaking the NFL’s single-season reception record in 2019, Thomas wants to do it again this year.

Thomas finished the past season with 149 catches, surpassing Marvin Harrison’s all-time record of 143. The 27-year-old player also did this in just 15 games, which is why he believes he can be even better in 2020.

“Yeah, I think I can break it again,” Thomas told the Saints’ official website over the weekend.

It wouldn’t be a big surprise if Thomas managed to pull this off somehow, as his season receptions numbers increased in each year since he entered the league in 2016.

“It’s just kind of like what I do,” said Thomas. “At my position, I set real high goals and try to accomplish them along with winning football games, and helping out the people around me.”

So far, Michael Thomas has been pretty successful in achieving high goals. He already holds the NFL records for most receptions in player’s first two, first three, and first four seasons in the league. He never had less than 1,137 receiving yards, and in 2019 he had a career-high and league-leading 1,725 receiving yards.

Thomas has three Pro Bowl appearances and two First-team All-Pro selections. He also has NFL Offensive Player of the Year award from last season, becoming the first wide receiver since legendary Jerry Rice to get it. 

The post Saints’ WR Michael Thomas Aims to Break NFL’s Reception Record Again appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Baltimore Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson tops the annual list of the 100 best players in the league put together by NFL Network. Jackson was not even on the list in 2019 despite winning the starting job midway through the 2018 season and taking Baltimore to the playoffs.

Jackson showed significant improvement in every facet of his game in 2019, breaking numerous records on his way to being named league MVP.

Jackson rushed for 1,206 rushing yards in 2019, the most yards for a quarterback in a single season in NFL history. The dual-threat signal-caller also passed for 3,127 yards, making him the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 3,000 and rush for more than 1,000 yards in the same season.

The top five of the 2020 list was rounded out by Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson at no. 2, the league’s best defender, and last year’s no. 1 player, Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald at no. 3, Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the 2019 champions Kansas City Chiefs at no. 4, and the NFL’s most consistently productive wide receiver of the last several years, Micheal Thomas of the New Orleans Saints, at no. 5.

The annual NFL Network list is put together based on an offseason polling of NFL players in which they vote on fellow players based on their performances during the last NFL season.

The post Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson Named No. 1 Player of 2020 by NFL Network appeared first on SportzBonanza.

New Orleans Saints’ wide receiver Michael Thomas decided to sit out the start of the team’s training camp in order to leverage a new contract. Thomas’ tactic proved to be fruitful, as Saints’ acted swiftly and presented him with a record-breaking extension.

According to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, Saints and Thomas agreed to a five-year extension worth $100 million with $61 million guaranteed. This makes the 26-year-old Pro Bowler the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history with $20 million annual salary. The previous record was held by Odell Beckham Jr., whose contract nets him $18 million per year on average.

Thomas was entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2019 and was set to make $1.148 million this season.

There is no doubt that Michael Thomas, who was the 47th pick in 2016, deserved to get paid. Since entering the league, Thomas was Saints’ best receiver and has established himself as one of the best WRs in the game. In the past three years, he had 321 receptions for 3,787 yards and 23 touchdowns.

In 2018 alone, Thomas led the league in receptions with 125 while having career-high 1,405 receiving touchdowns. This brought him his second Pro Bowl appearances and First-team All-Pro honors.

The post WR Michael Thomas Gets Record 5-Year, $100 Million Extension from Saints appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Despite extending several key players during the offseason, New Orleans Saints still have an unfinished job this summer. This includes giving a new contract to their Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Thomas.

Although Saints have already engaged in talks with the 26-year-old wideout, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal, the two sides are not close to an agreement. One of the reasons for this is that Thomas looks to become the highest paid WR in the history of the league.

Jeff Duncan of Nola.com recently gave an update about the contract negotiations between two sides, and according to his findings, there is a significant gap between what Thomas wants and what the Saints are willing to offer.

Duncan reports that Michael Thomas’ agent presented the New Orleans with a new request for $22 million annual salary, with the initial demands being even bigger. Saints, on the other hand, have increased their offer to $18 million per year, and it is unclear how much further they are willing to go.

Cleveland Browns’ Odell Beckham Jr. is currently the highest paid wideout in football with $18 million per year, with Raiders’ Antonio Brown coming at second place with $16.7 million.

Thomas had a career year in 2018, leading the NFL with 125 receptions while making his first First-Team All-Pro appearance. He also had 1,405 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in the regular season while adding 207 yards and one TD in two postseason games.

The post Saints’ Michael Thomas Looking to Become the Highest Paid WR in the NFL appeared first on SportzBonanza.