ESPN’s @RandyMoss reached out to Saints’ WR Michael Thomas this week and offered some advice about how to handle this season and how to come back strong for the second half of it.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 8, 2020
It’s been a disappointing season for Michael Thomas. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year caught just a couple of passes in Week 1 before getting sidelined for weeks by a high-ankle sprain. His injury took longer than expected to heal up, leading to a frustrating one-game benching (which wasn’t really a suspension) after a fight with a teammate, and an unanticipated hamstring strain. It’s understandable if he’s developed a case of cabin fever, but the accusations of diva behavior might be too much.
If anyone would know, it’s Randy Moss. The 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and all-time great had his own lowlights during his 16-year NFL career, and plenty of his own diva-worthy moments. So his ESPN colleague Adam Schefter reported Sunday that Moss reached out to Thomas over the last week to offer a pep talk.
The contents of that conversation are unclear, but we might have an idea based off what Moss had to say on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown preview show back on Nov. 2. At the time, Moss stressed one point to Thomas amid dogged trade talk speculation: the Saints have invested more than a big contract in him, and it’s vital for the 27-year old to appreciate that.
“I think it’s just (important) for Michael Thomas to understand that this organization built their offense around you, okay?” Moss said, continuing: “And all the numbers, all the records that he’s breaking there, where else could he go to break those numbers? Who else is going to be able to get a guy with that contract and bring him in to pick up where he left off?”
That message is clear — Thomas is at his best with the Saints, and the New Orleans offense is at its most efficient with No. 13 on top of the depth chart.
It’s a point Moss circled back to. Great as Alvin Kamara has been this year (making his own Offensive Player of the Year case), the Saints can’t rely on him to win games alone deep into the playoffs: “But let me say this about their offense: when you have the offense designed around you, and your running back leads the team in receptions, that’s not a winning — that’s not a Super Bowl-winning formula.”
