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Yates EstateESPN Insider
The New Orleans Saints and wide receiver Michael Thomas agreed to a restructured contract on Friday, according to a source, in view of the next championship year.
Thomas, who is under contract through the 2024 season, saw his base salary in 2023 rise from $15.5 million to $1.165 million while adding a roster bonus of $31.755 million for the league year 2024 which becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of league year 2023 (17 March 2023). Thomas also received a signing bonus of $902,941 this week, the equivalent of an additional game check to his original base salary of $15.35 million in 2022 when the deal was signed (the Saints restructured the agreement several times).
Beyond the nearly $1 million bonus, this renegotiation reinforces that any decision on Thomas’ future with the franchise will be made quickly, as the team is unlikely to leave Thomas if he stays. on the roster once the huge roster bonus of almost $32 million becomes guaranteed.
If the team chooses to leave Thomas at any time before that date, he will immediately enter free agency. If that happens before free agency begins, Thomas could find a new team before other future free receivers can latch on to a new team.
For the Saints, the move allows flexibility at the start of the league year.
If the team decides to remove Thomas before his roster bonus is guaranteed, they will likely do so with a designation after June 1. Under earlier terms of the deal, the team would have had to defer Thomas’ $15.5 million salary on its salary cap through June 2 before possibly getting cap relief.
With his salary reduced, the team has more than $14 million in additional cap flexibility that will be essential for a franchise currently projected tens of millions of dollars above the cap. Any release of Thomas will result in a total charge of nearly $26 million.
If the team decides to keep Thomas, they would still realize the cap savings for 2023, but would see a major spike in their financial commitment to Thomas in 2024 with the nearly $32 million roster bonus on the books.
After setting the NFL record for most catches in a single season in 2019 with 149, Thomas has been injury-limited to just 10 games over the past three seasons.
Thomas, who turns 30 on March 3, was a 2016 second-round pick for the Saints and set the franchise record for rookie yards with 1,137 yards in his first season. Thomas was a central part of the New Orleans offense for four seasons, but was injured in the 2020 season opener after a teammate rolled his ankle.
Thomas has struggled with injuries since his record-breaking 2019 season, when he won NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors. He had a public dispute with the team over the timing of his ankle surgery ahead of the 2021 season. Thomas was put on the physically unable to play list to start this season, and a setback prevented him from returning.
I mean, even the year I played [a total of nine games in 2020], I was playing injured and always helping this team win games and move the chains. And I was clearly on a peg,” Thomas said at the start of this season, publicly addressing the incident for the first time.
Thomas and the team seemed to have patched things up after new Saints coach Dennis Allen flew in to see him in the 2022 offseason. Thomas started the 2022 season healthy and caught three touchdowns in both first games, but a toe injury ended his season.
Saints are widely accepted Chris Olave In the first round of the 2022 draft, and Olave, who at one point was a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year, set the stage to be a potential successor to Thomas with 982 yards this year.
Information from ESPN’s Katherine Terrell was used in this report.
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