Why the Saints are in trouble if Michael Thomas is out to start the Season
By: Steve Risser
Yesterday, it was announced that Michael Thomas could miss time to start the season due to him recovering from ankle surgery in the offseason. Thomas is one of the best receivers in the league and if he has to miss time, it’s going to be very hard for the Saints to compete for a championship. There are 2 reasons why the Saints would be in trouble if Thomas is out. One is they will have new QB this season due to Drew Brees retiring after last season. In 2021, the Saints starting QB will either be Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill, but no matter who it is, they will need Michael Thomas on field for either one of them to have success. This now leads me to my 2nd reason which is the Saints roster is not as good this year. Don’t get me wrong, they still have their top players with Alvin Kamara, Cam Jordan, Demario Davis, Marshon Lattimore, Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk, but because of salary cap issues, they had to cut Janoris Jenkins, Kwan Alexander, Jared Cook and Emanuel Sanders. Also, they didn’t resign Trey Hendrickson and Sheldon Rankins. With Cook and Sanders gone and say Thomas is out to start the season, outside of Kamara, their best pass catcher would be Trequan Smith. He had 448 receiving yards last year. Lastly, looking at the Saints early season schedule, they open with the Packers and then they play 4 teams that have improved this offseason the Pats, Panthers, Giants and Washington. If they don’t have Michael Thomas for those games, they very easily could get off to a slow start.
