{"id":67132,"date":"2019-06-18T18:14:32","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T22:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=67132"},"modified":"2021-03-18T19:26:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T23:26:34","slug":"michael-thomas-highest-paid-wide-receiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/06\/18\/michael-thomas-highest-paid-wide-receiver\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Saints&#8217; Michael Thomas Expected to Become Highest Paid Wide Receiver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to ESPN&#8217;s <strong>Dianna Russini<\/strong>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/saints\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Orleans Saints<\/a> are comfortable with making <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/T\/ThomMi05.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Thomas<\/a><\/strong>, their star receiver, the highest paid receiver in the NFL. This should come as a surprise to no one, considering Thomas has the most receptions in NFL history in a players&#8217; first three seasons. Russini is also reporting the Saints expect a deal to be done by training camp.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Also told it should be done by training camp per sources <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/esfyESkw7N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/esfyESkw7N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dianna (@diannaESPN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/diannaESPN\/status\/1141040784432607232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 18, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Report: Saints expect to make Michael Thomas highest paid receiver<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3>Implications<\/h3>\n<p>The New Orleans Saints off-season continues to be busy, to say the least. <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/03\/21\/jared-cook-signs-new-orleans-saints\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Locking up<\/a> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CookJa02.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared Cook<\/a><\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/06\/16\/new-orleans-saints-record-prediction\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">losing Max Unger to retirement<\/a>\u00a0but adding <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/McCoEr01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erik McCoy<\/a><\/strong> through the draft, and signing <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MurrLa00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Latavius Murray<\/a><\/strong>, but\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/03\/13\/mark-ingram-signs-ravens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">losing Mark Ingram<\/a> to free agency are a few of the storylines.<\/p>\n<p>But in recent weeks, the Saints are making big moves for their future. First, the Saints put together <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/06\/11\/cameron-jordan-signs-extension-saints\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a contract extension with reliable and productive defensive end<\/a>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/J\/JordCa00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cameron Jordan.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>And now, beginning to negotiate a contract with &#8220;Cantguardmike&#8221; Thomas ensures <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BreeDr00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Drew Brees<\/a><\/strong> has a reliable weapon to throw to the duration of his career.<\/p>\n<h3>Production<\/h3>\n<p>Let&#8217;s call a spade, a spade. Michael Thomas is the most productive receiver since entering the league in 2016. Whether or not if the Saints offensive system has a role in his numbers does not matter. Thomas can do it from not only outside the numbers, but in the slot as well. According to Pro Football Focus, Thomas averaged 3.98 yards run per route in the slot, which ranked first in the NFL last season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Saints\u2019 Michael Thomas was in a league of his own from the slot last season! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RQshbeNf4U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/RQshbeNf4U<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pro Football Focus (@PFF) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF\/status\/1141024551305994240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 18, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Michael Thomas should continue to shatter records this season. His versatility and how the Saints use him makes him truly unguardable. While it will be tough to top 125 receptions, 1405 yards and nine touchdowns with the whole league on notice, Thomas is more than capable of getting open against any defensive back or safety lined across for him. Expect the Brinks trunk to come knocking at his door in a few weeks when he gets paid.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">YO.. Michael Thomas re-created the Joe Horn cellphone celebration ? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5rONvYLCsw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5rONvYLCsw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL_Memes\/status\/1059239673665646592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"ZcPyRV5qTSR79r96m57eGQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1094309228\" 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:'ZcPyRV5qTSR79r96m57eGQ',sig:'z8mkfV1F5xd-hBlbVSvn9zYCmlYWJwjUnBnIDsYgl-w=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1094309228',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>According to ESPN&#8217;s Dianna Russini, the New Orleans Saints are comfortable with making Michael Thomas, their star receiver, the highest paid receiver in the NFL. This should come as a surprise to no one, considering Thomas has the most receptions in NFL history in a players&#8217; first three seasons. Russini is also reporting the Saints [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2954,"featured_media":67147,"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":"1560816000","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"Michael Thomas expected to be highest paid receiver in NFL.","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"300","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,28],"tags":[301,7752],"class_list":["post-67132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-saints","tag-michael-thomas","tag-new-orleans-saints-news"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67132","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\/2954"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}