{"id":102508,"date":"2021-01-19T21:48:29","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T02:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=102508"},"modified":"2021-01-19T21:52:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T02:52:13","slug":"michael-thomas-fantasy-football-dynasty-leagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/01\/19\/michael-thomas-fantasy-football-dynasty-leagues\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Panic Over Michael Thomas in Fantasy Football Dynasty Leagues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nobody saw their dynasty fantasy football stock dip more over the past year than <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/nfl-teams2\/saints\/\" target=\"_self\">New Orleans Saints<\/a> wide receiver <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=ThomMi05,ThomMi02&amp;search=Michael+Thomas&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Thomas<\/a><\/strong>. The two-time All-Pro battled injury and inconsistency all year long and finished his season <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/01\/17\/tom-brady-saves-his-best-for-last-again\/\" target=\"_self\">with a goose egg<\/a> against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/nfl-teams2\/buccaneers\/\" target=\"_self\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>. With <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BreeDr00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Drew Brees<\/a><\/strong> almost certainly set to retire, some Michael Thomas owners are panicking about his future outlook. However, a further dive shows that there is no reason to worry about the long-term value of the superstar wide receiver.<\/p>\n<h2>Fantasy Football: Don\u2019t Worry About Michael Thomas in Dynasty<\/h2>\n<h3>2020 Recap<\/h3>\n<p>To say Michael Thomas didn\u2019t live up to expectations in 2020 would be the understatement of the century. Widely considered the WR1 prior to the season, Thomas finished the regular season as the WR95 with just 40 receptions for 438 yards and no touchdowns. This obviously isn\u2019t what fantasy owners expected, as Thomas finished as one of the biggest busts in the league.<\/p>\n<p>However, almost all of his poor performances can be explained away by a hilarious amount of bad injury luck. Thomas suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 1, forcing him to miss the next seven games. Even when he returned, he wasn\u2019t himself and re-aggravated the injury later in the season. He returned for the postseason, but still wasn\u2019t fully healthy and now has to undergo multiple surgeries to fix his busted ankle.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Saints\u2019 WR Michael Thomas is likely to have surgeries on both the torn deltoid and other injured ligaments in his high ankle this offseason, per source. He knew it was likely Drew Brees\u2019 last year and didn\u2019t want to miss out trying win a Super Bowl with him.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/1351559395516276738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 19, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Michael Thomas is far from the first player to try and play through a high-ankle sprain. Historically speaking, players that suffer this type of injury never look quite right upon their initial return but find their old form in the following season. Ultimately, this disappointing season isn\u2019t all that uncommon for a player in his position. A full recovery <a href=\"https:\/\/recoverypt.com\/high-ankle-sprains-in-nfl-athletes\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">typically takes 10 to 12 weeks<\/a>, so Thomas should be back to his old self by the start of the regular season.<\/p>\n<h3>The Quarterback Situation<\/h3>\n<p>Of course, Thomas returning to health is only one part of the equation. A big reason for Thomas\u2019 success over the past few years is his unparalleled chemistry with Drew Brees, and that won\u2019t be there in 2021. Fortunately, we have a pretty good idea of who will be there, and we know Thomas can succeed with another quarterback under center.<\/p>\n<p>Chances are, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WinsJa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jameis Winston<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/H\/HillTa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Taysom Hill<\/a><\/strong> will be the starting quarterback for the 2021 New Orleans Saints, and Thomas should be able to be an elite wide receiver with either option. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/P\/PaytSe20.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sean Payton<\/a><\/strong> chose Hill over Winston earlier in the year, so it\u2019s safe to assume that Hill will have the first shot to win the starting job.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was the WR15 in PPR during his four games with Hill while averaging 16.1 fantasy points per game. This is obviously solid production, but it\u2019s also worth noting that he did this while clearly not 100% and without finding the endzone. Additionally, one of these four games was the infamous <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/H\/HintKe00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kendall Hinton<\/a><\/strong> game, and the lopsided nature of that affair caused the Saints to stop throwing the ball early in the contest.<\/p>\n<p>The fact Thomas played this well under these circumstances should make you feel great about his odds of sustained success in 2021. However, this wasn\u2019t the first time Thomas thrived without Brees running the offense. Brees missed five games in 2019, forcing the Saints to roll with a very rusty <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BridTe00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teddy Bridgewater<\/a><\/strong>. Even with the subpar quarterbacking, Thomas recorded 42 receptions for 551 yards and three touchdowns over Bridgewater\u2019s five starts. If extrapolated over a full 16-game sample, Thomas would\u2019ve recorded 134 receptions for 1,763 yards and 10 touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Ultiamtely, this is all one long way of saying that Michael Thomas is going to have a great year in 2021. He should be back to full strength in 2021, and he doesn\u2019t need Drew Brees to be an elite fantasy wideout. Hold on to Thomas in dynasty, and try to pick him up everywhere you don\u2019t have him.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"XuKUKjnBRSJrKix0QnJbLQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1295691311\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'XuKUKjnBRSJrKix0QnJbLQ',sig:'NmCLbr4BMDdEhDvqdLAIpyBoVQMRUaAQ6oPM_6ZPhcw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1295691311',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Thomas had a disappointing fantasy football season in 2020, but he should be a great buy-low candidate in dynasty leagues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":102510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,54],"tags":[294,349,61,301,309,40],"class_list":["post-102508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","category-editorials","tag-fantasy-football","tag-fantasy-football-rankings","tag-football","tag-michael-thomas","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfl"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}