It was reported in January that Michael Thomas would undergo surgery this offseason to repair injuries that cost him a sizable chunk of last season, but it didn’t happen until June — something the New Orleans Saints were/are very upset with. To assuredly make matters worse are recent rumors that the All-Pro ignored calls from the team’s trainer, wide receivers coach and even head coach Sean Payton for months before finally undergoing ankle surgery this summer, which paints the 28-year-old in the worst possible light in regards to his latest round of tumult with the Saints (a continuation and escalation of 2020 rumors of a fractured relationship).
Thomas has been quiet about the latest round of headlines, until now. It seems he’s taken to social media to suggest the Saints are trying to engineer a narrative that paints themselves as victims and him as the bad guy.
“They tried to damage your reputation,” Thomas said Monday morning, via Twitter. “You saved theirs by not telling your side of the story.”
And with that, things aren’t exactly improving in New Orleans. In the aftermath of the tweet, Payton was asked to comment on Thomas’ social media activity, which he declined.
“No. I don’t want to have a press conference based on social media,” he said, via NFL.com.
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Thomas is currently out indefinitely as he works his way back from the aforementioned surgery, but at this point there’s no guarantee it’ll be in a Saints uniform.
The two sides have a lot of work to do to repair a relationship that flourished not long ago — having agreed to a five-year, $100 million contract extension only two years ago after Thomas went on a record-setting tear that saw him rack up 1,725 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Prior to the issues of 2020, Thomas reeled in 5,512 yards and 32 touchdowns in his first four years with the club, blowing his second-round pick status out of the water. As the team tries to piece things together at quarterback following the retirement of Drew Brees, having Thomas in tow is paramount, but it won’t happen anytime soon.
And time will tell if it ever happens again, because while they don’t have to move on from him via trade, at a certain point they might want to start having a conversation about it — if things continue to spiral out of control as they have been.
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