The relationship between Derek Carr and Mike Thomas has come under the microscope in recent weeks, and we heard the Saints QB's side of the story this week.
Speaking on the podcast Two Gs in a Pod with former teammate and NFL wide receiver James Jones and co-host Amber Theoharis, Carr addressed the social media criticism that Thomas directed at the QB as the conference championship games were being decided.
"I’ve always just tried to tell the truth in love, and sometimes people don’t like it. But I hope Mike finds what he’s looking for. I hope he gets everything he wants in life, because I do love Mike," Carr said. "But at that moment I didn’t really like it. I was like, just call me, bro. To say this, to say all these things, like, I felt like we’re doing like a middle school thing, man. Just talk to me, and Mike was great about talking to me, but in that moment — that’s what I just try and stay off social media."
Thomas' criticism called back to a similar social media rant that the WR went on during the Saints' loss to the Lions earlier this year, a game Thomas was inactive for due to a knee injury suffered several weeks earlier on the first drive in a loss to the Vikings. At the time Thomas was criticizing his QB for not seeing a wide-open A.T. Perry on the Saints' first offensive play of the game, instead throwing to tight end Juwan Johnson, with the ball tipping off his hands for an interception. Thomas had several follow-up tweets and insinuated that injuries had resulted from QBs missing reads, but ultimately deactivated his account later that day.
Thomas resurfaced on Twitter following the end of the regular season, but it wasn't until the AFC Championship that he directed his ire at Carr, stemming from a discussion on the broadcast about how Mahomes had used his eyes to get receivers open. Thomas went on to criticize a "bad ball" from Carr that ended his season early, then went on in follow-up posts to direct his ire at his role in the offense amid struggles throughout the season, and even the front office as it went through its search for a new offensive coordinator.
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Carr was diplomatic as he answered those questions this week, though he did point to several elements that likely spurred Thomas' displeasure.
"I don’t even know exactly when it happened, but it probably wasn’t the best ball, and I’ll be completely honest, James knows, James played with me, I’m not going to throw a perfect ball 100 out of 100 times," Carr said, "but at the end of the day … I probably didn’t throw him the best ball, but, you know, if that’s how he wants to view it and how he wants to see it, completely fine by me."
While addressing understandable frustrations about injuries that have limited Thomas to just 20 games since the 2019 season, he also pointed to internal dynamics that likely prompted frustrations in the offense. MT's 2023 season ended after 10 games with 39 catches for 448 yards and a touchdown.
"I understand also that when I came in the building, you know, we have Chris Olave who they were trying to train to be the No. 1 guy, so all of a sudden every rep and every read in practice is Chris first, you know, and as a superstar that Mike is and what he has been, I can understand you’re dealing with all the injury noise, you’re dealing with now Chris has become the guy, and he loves Chris, that’s his guy, Ohio State and all that," Carr continued. "But I can understand where the frustration begins to build, you know, I can understand where all those things begin to take place, but there was times during the season where he’d be frustrated or this or that and I wouldn’t tweet about it, I would just call him, and I’d be like, look bro, this is what it is, bro, we’re grown men, we can talk about it. And every time that I went on there and talked to him, there was times where we went at it and confront him about something and said something and he probably, over time with all the frustration, grew to not liking that."
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The next question that the Saints will have to answer is whether the situation can be remedied, or -- more likely -- the Saints and Thomas part ways and the WR is allowed to become a free agent for the first time in his career. Thomas' deal structure is complex, but he is currently still under contract for the 2024 season. That said, large bonuses that will kick in shortly after the start of the new league year make it virtually impossible for the Saints to bring him back without reworking that deal in some way. The most likely outcome is that Thomas is designated a post-June 1 cut, which will leave roughly $18 million in dead cap split between the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The Saints have been navigating a complex salary cap table for years through a series of restructures, and that is expected to be the case with Carr as he enters Year 2 in New Orleans. The team can restructure his deal and clear as much as $23 million against the 2024 salary cap, though that will tie the Saints and the QB together financially for multiple seasons. The team has not indicated anything other than a full commitment to Carr, making that the sensible path to take. The Saints have identified their next offensive coordinator in 49ers pass game specialist Klint Kubiak, though that deal can not be finalized until after the Super Bowl.
There is reason for optimism in that regard, with Carr and the Saints offense appearing to hit its stride late in the year and with wins in four of its final five games. That included big wins over the Bucs and Falcons in the final two weeks of the season, spearheaded by young players in WRs Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, A.T. Perry and Kendre Miller, and with big contributions from TE Juwan Johnson. The Saints finished the season 9-8 but fell short of the postseason on tiebreakers with the Bucs taking a third consecutive NFC South title and hosting a playoff game, which they won 25-11 against the Eagles. Carr finished the year with a 68.4% completion rate (375-548), 3,878 yards and 25 touchdowns against 8 interceptions.