It will be an interesting season for Michael Thomas now that he is playing without Drew Brees for the first time in his career as well as coming off an injury-filled season. Lots of questions are in the air for Mike Thomas’ 2021 season. How will he play after being injured all of last season? How will Drew Brees being gone affect his overall performance on the field? There are a lot of questions that will be unraveled as the season approaches with camps.
In Thomas’ 5 year career he’s played 10 games without Drew Brees at quarterback and in those 10 games he totaled 77 receptions, 923 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill were the starters in those games. More recently however, when Taysom Hill took over we potentially saw a foreshadowing of Michael Thomas’ 2021 season. His routes were more downfield in the 12-15 yard range. If the route for Thomas was a curl or a dig we likely see Thomas run that route 7-10 yards for Brees but now we could see him run his routes deeper. The best season comparison would be the 2018 season and the best game film to look at would be the Eagles at Saints divisional round matchup. This game could be what we see Thomas’ route tree contains. This film contains medium dig routes, curls, out routes and comebacks on the major 3rd and 10-15 yard distance.
Now obviously his overall season will depend on who is playing quarterback. With Winston at quarterback I could see a year like 2018 as long as that ankle stays healthy. Winston played with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, so he can get his receivers the numbers and the production needed. With a new quarterback, new opportunities will present itself as well to Thomas for bigger plays and possibly more go routes or double move routes like a stop and go. With Taysom we saw what that connection looked like and it was a good connection. Taysom trusted Thomas to make a play when the ball was thrown his way and that’s what Thomas did. In the four games Taysom started Thomas put up two 100 yard games 37 targets and caught 30 of them. So the chemistry is there and those were numbers Thomas put up with an injured ankle. It’s hard to analyze those games though due to the fact that Mike Thomas wasn’t Mike Thomas. He was injured and his routes simply weren’t Mike Thomas routes. Off those games though the route tree was similar to the Eagles divisional game because those are the routes he runs best, but now the distance will vary depending on who the quarterback is and how their chemistry is built.
Overall his season will contain more big play making abilities and opportunities but will also continue a “decrease” in statistical numbers. The ankle just has to stay healthy and a chemistry needs to be formed between him and his quarterback to make the connection work.
Written By Kadin Janisch
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