Saints’ Michael Thomas ruled out due to discipline
New Orleans Saints’ wide receiver Michael Thomas has been officially ruled out of Monday night’s game due to disciplinary action by the team.
The New Orleans Saints prepared for this season with one of the best teams they have had in years. Star wide receiver Michael Thomas is coming off a season in which he broke a long-standing NFL record.
This was going to be the year — or so everyone thought. Michael Thomas didn’t even make it through Week 1 before he found himself nursing an ankle injury. Now, that injury has proven to be a long, nagging injury.
The Saints purposely didn’t put Thomas on the injured reserve list, which players are now able to come back from in three weeks. Obviously, by that call, they thought that Thomas would be able to come back before the three weeks return was up.
Fast forward to today, we are going into Week 5, and Thomas is still not back. However, with an extra-long week playing on Monday night, Thomas had a viable chance at making his first appearance since Week 1 against the Chargers.
Even throughout the course of the week, wide receiver counterpart Emmanuel Sanders kept saying, “Now that Mike is back.” That gave reporters and analysts clear signs that this was going to be the week of Thomas’ return.
#Saints star WR Michael Thomas punched teammate Chauncey Gardner-Johnson during a fight in practice, per sources. That’s why Thomas was ruled out for Monday’s game against the #Chargers for what the club is calling team discipline.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 11, 2020
That was until this last practice. The star receiver got into an altercation with young safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. It was reported that Thomas punched Gardner-Johnson after the two got into a fight.
As a result, the Saints have decided to take disciplinary action and bench Thomas for Monday night’s game against the Chargers — one that they desperate could use him for. This is all due to Thomas’ signs of immaturity.
As one of the veteran leaders on the Saints’ offense, Thomas must be better. He must be better for himself, his coaches, and most importantly his team. Now, it is his team that has to suffer without him Monday night while he sits.
Ryan Phillips of The Big Lead put it perfectly — “A guy of Thomas’ stature who has a five-year, $100 million contract ($61 million guaranteed) can’t be getting into fights in practice. The 27-year-old has to be more mature than that. Fights are for rookie and fringe roster guys, not team leaders.”
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We will continue to cover any further developments with the organizational discipline to Thomas.