Michael Thomas

Saints GM Mickey Loomis believes Michael Thomas can ‘absolutely’ notch another 100-catch season

If the New Orleans Saints are going to maximize their full potential on offense in 2023, they’re going to need a healthy campaign from star receiver Michael Thomas.

Thomas, 30, has been held to just 10 games over the last three seasons, hampered by ankle and toe injuries. Prior to the injuries, Thomas was a machine. He hauled in 470 receptions over four seasons, including an NFL record 149 in 2019.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis is hopeful the two-time All-Pro can regain his form in 2023, as Thomas continues to recover from toe surgery this past November.

“Absolutely he can be,” Loomis said Monday of Thomas being a 100-catch wideout once again, per John Hendrix of Sports Illustrated. “Just got to get him healthy. He’s worked so hard at that over the last two, three years… The results haven’t been good as we all hoped. But it’s not because of a lack of effort or desire by him, that’s for sure.”

The Saints restructured Thomas’ contract this offseason. Per Field Yates of ESPN, Thomas had his base salary in 2023 reduced from $15.5M to $1.165M while adding a $31.755M roster bonus for the 2024 league year that became fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2023 league year (March 17).

The restructuring of Thomas’ contract freed up over $14 million in cap space for the Saints, allowing them to sign free agent quarterback Derek Carr to a four-year, $150 million deal.

Michael Thomas making progress in recovery from toe surgery

Michael Thomas appears to be doing well in his recovery. He shared an update of his progress on Instagram last month — deadlifting 530 pounds at one point during a workout.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen recently said on “The Rich Eisen Show” that Thomas is making progress.

“Right now, he’s still going through some of the rehab process,” Allen said, via Pro Football Talk. “He had some hardware removed out of that foot that he had surgery on this past season. He’s doing really well. He’s working extremely hard. Our anticipation is that he’ll be limited throughout this offseason. But our anticipation is that when we get to training camp, he’ll be good to go.”

Allen added that the team will be cautious in getting Thomas up to speed.

“Now, when we get to training camp, we’re going to make sure that we’re smart with him in terms of getting him back in and getting him back into football shape,” Allen said. “But, look, he came off really kind of two seasons of not really playing a lot. And really had a really nice start to the season last year. It was unfortunate that he got injured when he did because going back, just the opener against Atlanta and our ability to throw contested-ball throws to him in tough situations down there in the red zone, third down, things of that nature. Not having him was a big loss to us last year.

“So, our expectation is we’re going to have him back and we’re going to have him healthy. And we’re looking forward to getting the Mike Thomas that you saw three years ago.”