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Saints: 6 players the team can’t afford to lose to injury in 2021

By Leigh Oleszczak

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 20: Eli Apple #25 of the New Orleans Saints gets injured late in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on October 20, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 20: Eli Apple #25 of the New Orleans Saints gets injured late in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on October 20, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /
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New Orleans Saints
Michael Thomas #13 of the New Orleans Saints (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

Saints need Michael Thomas to stay healthy

I debated if I should include Michael Thomas on this list because, on the one hand, the Saints are thin at wide receiver outside of Thomas. On the other hand, the Saints managed just fine without Thomas for the majority of last season despite not having any other receivers really step up.

Ultimately, I decided to include Thomas because, even with his injury history last year, he’s still one of the best receivers heading into the 2021 season.

Just because the Saints were fortunate to get by without Thomas for most of their games last year doesn’t mean they’ll have the same luck this time around. They also cut ties with Emmanuel Sanders, who was the WR2 last year and they didn’t make it a point to add another WR2-caliber player over the offseason.

The Saints also need Thomas to stay healthy because there’s a chance they could look to trade him and teams will be less interested in trading for him if he’s injured. Thomas is just two years removed from putting up crazy numbers and winning the Offensive Player of the Year award for his performance that year.

While the Saints won games without Thomas last year, they might not be in the same boat this year should he go down with an injury. It’s vital that he remain healthy.