This isn’t what the Saints needed ahead of their pivotal Monday Night Football date with the Chargers. Star receiver Michael Thomas won’t be playing, and it’s not because of his ankle injury.
Thomas had an altercation with a teammate at practice this weekend and the Saints are sitting him as discipline, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Thomas punched safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson during a fight, sources told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). Thomas apparently got into the altercation on Friday and was told to leave practice, according to a tweet from Josina Anderson of ESPN. Thomas then met with head coach Sean Payton on Sunday, where he was fined for conduct detrimental to the team and told he wouldn’t be playing Monday.
Anderson added that Thomas is expected to rejoin the team sometime next week. It’s been a frustrating campaign for the superstar, as he suffered a high ankle sprain in New Orleans’ Week 1 win over the Buccaneers. Drew Brees hasn’t looked his sharpest this season as the team has started 2-2, and this certainly isn’t what the offense needed to get back on track.
The Saints are favorites of about a touchdown against Los Angeles, so maybe they feel confident they can get by them even without their top receiver. Thomas had practiced this week and while it wasn’t certain, it was looking like he was set to make his return prior to these developments. Tre’Quan Smith and Emmanuel Sanders will continue holding down the fort. Hopefully for Saints fans this isn’t a sign of any further locker room issues.
This may end up benefitting New Orleans. They’ve spent most of the season using a backup and a new receiver in Sanders and Smith as their options. Whenever Thomas comes back, Sanders and Smith should hopefully be in sync with the offense and more ready to step up should Thomas go down or be shut out. Unfortunately the first part of the season has effectively been the preseason around the NFL, so a lot of teams have doing some settling in. The Saints have been as well, but without Thomas to help cover some mistakes.
Maybe Goodell could boost ratings for the Tuesday game by having Micheal Thomas and Earl Thomas box each other at halftime.
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I see what you did there! Clever…Dave
Ratings are abysmal. Try anything
The last time Earl went at it with another Thomas it was his brother and they were in the same bed.
I actually found an article by a local New Orleans writer that said Micheal Thomas is not the most popular guy in that locker room. He said that this could very well end up being an Earl Thomas type situation where the team ends up not even wanting him around regardless of how good an athlete he is. Im not saying it’s 100% true, I just read it today. But those local sports writers usually have a pretty good feel of the happenings around their teams and for the Saints and Drew Breese hopefully they work it out b/c that is one large loss!
Just wait two years or next year when Brees is gone and his stats go way down.
Thomas has acted a little unhinged on social media the last few years. Remember that back-and-forth with DeVante Parker a while back?
The guy doesn’t have a Twitter game and constantly makes himself look uneducated and salty there. Watching him go on a Trump-esque tweet storm from his couch during and after the Vikings/49ers playoff game last year was some of the saddest material I’ve ever seen, and he got roasted to all hell for it.
“Thanks a lot MT” – fantasy owners