I Should Try Out for the Saints at WR
Yesterday, news broke that Saints star WR Michael Thomas had surgery on his ankle to repair a torn ligament in June & he will be out 4 months. Apparently the ankle did not heal properly from 2020 Week 1 injury vs. the Bucs.
I have A LOT of questions & none of them are positive for the Black & Gold.
1. Why the hell did Thomas wait til June to have this surgery?
The season ended last January. He could not have taken care of this in March or April?!?! Now the Saints are facing 1-2 months of season without their only elite WR & have to get by with dust at receiver.
2. Why did the Saints not address WR in draft?
New Orleans had some other needs draft night after salary cap caused a roster purge. Saints needed a #2 CB, LB, DL depth & WR.
They opted to take Houston DE Payton Turner in 1st round over Ole Miss WR Elijah Moore. Admittedly I am super biased & love Elijah. The man destroyed the SEC, got me to Barstool & saved Ole Miss football program with this eloquent move.
Moore would have been lightning on SuperDome turf & given Saints immediate help. He’s a New York Jet. I am obviously not a scout but Turner better be good. I was upset on Barstool Draft Night & my feelings have not changed.
The Saints took an LB, CB, QB (Ian Book) and an OL before finally adding a WR in Kawan Baker (South Alabama) in 7th round.
3. Who is going to play WR now?
Current Depth Chart:
TreQuon Smith
Deonte Harris
Marquez Callaway
Juwan Johnson
Lil’ Jordan Humphrey
Kawan Baker
Smith was a 3rd round pick & has shown some flashes between bouts of inconsistency & injuries. Harris is a tiny but speedy playmaker with upside. The rest of this bunch is unproven although Callaway showed enough potential last year to give me a glimmer of hope. This is the most unproven WR corps in the NFL.
The Saints are reportedly making inquiries around league to try to beef up WR. They also lost Emmanuel Sanders as a cap casualty this off-season.
4. Does this open the door for Taysom Hill to start at QB?
One of my sticking points in the Jameis Winston vs. Taysom Hill QB debate was how can you give Thomas 100 million & not be able to get him the damn ball?!?! Now that he’s out and Saints have no playmakers out wide, it makes some sense to go with the running QB to start the season behind stout offensive line. (Saints were 3-1 in Hill starts last year)
The whole world thinks Winston is going to start but Saints top beat writer Nick Underhill has said repeatedly that it is still an open competition at QB. Sean Payton went with Hill over Jameis last year & I trust Nick more than any other Saints source (Follow him @NickUnderhill on Twitter). To be determined…
The Saints also lost stud DE David Onyemata to a 6 game suspension last week.
There are a lot more questions than answers as the Saints start life without #9 behind center & this fall. But after going 49-13 the last 4 seasons (8-1 without Drew Brees) I have FAITH in Sean Payton to figure It out!
When’s that open tryout at WR?!?!
