The New Orleans Saints will likely begin their 2021 season without Michael Thomas, with the delay a result of treatment aimed at avoiding the procedure altogether.
Saints GM Mickey Loomis said Wednesday he wouldn't go into detail on the situation surrounding the June surgery to repair Thomas' injured ankle, but clarified what led to the delayed timeline. Loomis said it was expected for Thomas to come into minicamp healthy, but the ankle still wasn’t right.
Thomas was officially placed on the physically unable to perform list last week.
“I think we all had an expectation that [the ankle] would heal and he’d be fine coming into camp this year. But, you know, we get to the minicamp and obviously it wasn’t quite right. So we had to make the call, and collectively made the call to have the surgery in June," Loomis said. "Look, obviously with hindsight we would’ve preferred that surgery to be earlier, in February or March. But it wasn’t. It is what it is. Hopefully he’s had a good result so far and hopefully we’ll get him back earlier rather than later.”
Sean Payton addressed the situation more bluntly after echoing Loomis’ comments that the procedure should've happened sooner, then adding, “and quite honestly, it should’ve.”
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Payton was asked to elaborate, but said “I’m going to leave it at that."
The news that Thomas would likely be unavailable for the start of the season was first reported on July 23. Thomas appeared in line for surgery following the end of the 2021 season. With the delay and about a four-month recovery time, Thomas could be out game action until October.
"I think we have a pretty good sense of what the timetable would normally be and we’ll act accordingly,” Loomis said while declining to share the specifics.
Thomas' injury occurred late in a Week 1 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as he was blocking on a run play. From there the NFL record-holder for catches in a season saw action in six more regular season games before going on injured reserve in Week 14. Thomas came off IR and played in both postseason games, but was clearly limited as time wore on. He was held without a catch in the playoff loss to the Bucs.
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Thomas' absence adds more weight to the limited depth at the position, and as the Saints seek to paper over the loss of Emmanuel Sanders. The team agreed to a deal with veteran wide receiver Chris Hogan and will likely lean on young players, including Tre’Quan Smith, Marquez Callaway, Deonte Harris and even tight end Adam Trautman to pick up added responsibilities in the passing game..
“It appears we’re going to have to spend some time without Thomas," Payton said. "It’s disappointing, but we’ll work through it with the other players that are here.”
Saints players reported this week and will kick off training camp practices Thursday at the team’s facility in Metairie.
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