Getty Image / Eakin Howard
When football fans look back on the career of Michael Thomas, there are going to be plenty of people who wonder what could have been.
Thomas wasted no time becoming one of the NFL’s best receivers after entering the league and needed just 4 seasons to start shattering league records.
Unfortunately, injuries started to take their toll after that.
Thomas has appeared in just 10 games over the past 3 seasons because of a foot injury and a toe injury.
His growing injury history has fans wondering if he’ll ever be able to return to the level he was playing at back in 2019 and whether his future will be with the New Orleans Saints. Today it looks like fans are at least getting an answer to one of those questions.
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Saints and Thomas have agreed to a reworked contact that will pay Thomas $903K this week, but reduces his 2023 base salary from $15.5 million to $1.165 million.
The Saints and WR Michael Thomas agreed to a reworked contract that includes a $903K payment for him this week and sets the stage for the team to make a decision on his future early in the offseason. Details: https://t.co/TRGovlvmTz
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 7, 2023
With this deal, Thomas now also has a %31.755 million roster bonus for the 2024 season, but he’ll need to be on the roster on March 17th for that bonus to be activated.
The reworked deal looks like it will mean the end of Thomas’ time with the Saints. This move was likely made to spread out the cap hit when they release him during the offseason and in exchange the Saints gave him an immediate payment of $903K.
While it is unfortunate that Thomas will likely no longer be a Saint, he shouldn’t have any trouble finding a team to take a chance on him in free agency. He has shown the kind of talent that is very difficult to find, especially in free agency.
With him expected to be healthy for the 2023 season, he will be able to find a new team to see if he can get close to the same level he was playing at before his injuries.
That team just looks certain to not be the New Orleans Saints.