Sean Payton: Michael Thomas Surgery Should Have Happened Earlier

Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis talked about the Michael Thomas surgery and where things stand in their annual Saints training camp press conference.

Author:
John Hendrix
Publish date:
Jul 28, 2021 8:16 PM EDT

Sean Payton clearly wasn't happy about how things went down with Michael Thomas and the ankle surgery that will force him to miss the start of the season, as it was evident during his Wednesday evening press conference ahead of Saints training camp practice on Thursday.

"It appears we're going to have to spend some time without him. It's disappointing, but we'll work through it with the other players that are here," said Payton.

"The surgery took place. Obviously we would have liked that to have happened earlier than later. Quite honestly, it should have."

Payton was asked a follow-up question regarding if it was a communication issue with Thomas, but he said that he was "going to leave it at that".

Not having Thomas means other Saints receivers will have to step up in a big way
Nov 22, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas (13) catches a pass over Atlanta Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen (37) during the second half at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. © Derick E. Hingle | 2020 Nov 22

Loomis on Michael Thomas

"He was treated conservatively during the season, played in the last two postseason games and still had a few issues after the season. It was decided that he was going to treat that conservatively." Loomis said that they collectively made the call to have June surgery.

Loomis also said that the Saints initially hoped Thomas could recover with the conservative treatment and that it didn't work as they hoped, and said in hindsight that they would have done things sooner.

Loomis shared that the Saints have a pretty good sense on what the timetable for returning is for Thomas, but declined to share it publicly. He also reiterated that he believes in the receivers the team has probably more than a bunch of the media does.

The Saints open training camp tomorrow with a lot of questions to answer, and it'll be interesting to see how they tackle them.