METAIRIE, Florida. – New Orleans Saints receiver Michael Thomas will likely have surgeries to his torn deltoid and other injured ankle ligaments that knocked him out all season, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
The expectation is that Thomas will recover in time for the summer OTAs on a normal low-season schedule, the source said.
Thomas first suffered an ankle injury in the final minutes of Week 1 and missed a total of nine games in the regular season. But the source said he knew it would probably be Drew Brees ’last season and he didn’t want to miss the attempt to win a Super Bowl with him.
Thomas often did not practice all week, yet he would still play games, far less than 100% and with pain medications, the source said. The coaches told him that even as injured as he was, they were much better off with him than without him.
Thomas moved to the injured reserve from weeks 15 to 17 to try to be as healthy as possible for the playoffs. He returned with five catches for 73 yards and his first touchdown of the season in the Wildcard playoff victory over the Chicago Bears. However, he had zero catches on four goals in the divisional round defeat against Tampa Bay, including an almost touchdown in which his knee was out of bounds.
Thomas also missed weeks 2-8 after suffering the injury for the first time, then was disciplined for a match by a practice altercation that included him punching his teammate CJ Gardner-Johnson and then suffered a hamstring injury during his recovery.
He finished the regular season with 40 catches for 438 yards and zero touchdowns in seven games, just one season after setting the NFL record with 149 catches in 2019. However, he had two games with nine catches and more. of 100 yards receiving during Taysom Hill’s four games in QB, while Brees was sidelined for his own injuries.
Thomas ’510 professional receptions are the most received by a player in the first five seasons of his NFL career.