Michael Thomas has not been a consistent fantasy producer since 2019 when he finished as the WR1 overall and the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year. Despite missing the majority of the last two seasons, fantasy managers drafted Thomas with the hopes that he can revive his elite PPR production in 2022. However, a hamstring injury has lingered over the past week or so, handing him a questionable tag heading into his Week 1 matchup with the Falcons. Will Thomas return to the field for Week 1? Here’s what we know.
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Michael Thomas listed as questionable for Week 1
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the New Orleans Saints have listed WR Michael Thomas as questionable ahead of Week 1.
Fantasy Impact
Despite this designation, Thomas practiced on Friday and will likely play on Sunday, according to Nick Underhill of neworleans.football. Thomas had limited time with QB Jameis Winston last season, the Saints have upgraded at WR with Chris Olave and Jarvis Landry and Thomas may draw the assignment from CB A.J. Terrell, so proceed with caution in Week 1. However, if he returns to form from a few seasons back, he will be a steal at his average draft position.
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What the Experts are Saying
Officially questionable, but he has been practicing in a limited capacity all week. Pre-season hamstring strains for WRs tend to cause minor drops in production (~10%) in the short term and also carry a ~20% recurrence risk at some point in the season.
Still, MT should be close to full strength, as we expect last year’s ankle issue to be back to normal. 90% of prior form is still a potential stud WR, so for Week 1, we’d feel reasonably good about putting him into lineups. Watch the Sunday reports carefully, though – this could have some last-second changes pre-game.
-Deepak Chona
Before his hamstring injury in camp, every report from Saints camp was glowing about Michael Thomas. The last time we saw the artist formerly known as “Slant Boy,” he finished as the WR41 in fantasy points per game, but his efficiency metrics were still quite good. In 2020 he ranked 24th in yards per route run (minimum 50 targets) and fourth in target share (27.9%) and targets per route run.
-Derek Brown
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