Saints WR Thomas needs toe surgery, put on IR

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas volition beryllium placed connected injured reserve and apt miss the remainder of the season, manager Dennis Allen said sThursday.

Allen said that Thomas had a dislocated 2nd toed and volition person country to repair it, apt ending his season.

"I'm not going to get into immoderate clip frames close now. I don't cognize that," Allen said. "He's going to spell connected IR. I don't expect that he'll beryllium capable to instrumentality this year."

Thomas has not played successful a crippled since injuring the toed against the Carolina Panthers successful Week 3. Allen was asked earlier successful the play wherefore Thomas did not spell connected IR astatine the clip of the wounded and said that the archetypal timetable perchance enactment his instrumentality astir the four-game mark, noting that it was a pugnacious determination to enactment a "player of that caliber" connected IR if determination was a accidental helium could instrumentality up of schedule.

Allen said Friday that helium believed Thomas and wide receiver Jarvis Landry, who hasn't played since the Saints' crippled against the Minnesota Vikings successful London successful Week 4, would play again this season. But according to Allen connected Thursday, caller tests indicated that Thomas was healing arsenic expected.

"I don't deliberation determination was immoderate complication," Allen said. "I deliberation we followed what the doctors recommended successful presumption of trying to rehab it and springiness him an accidental to play done it. We went successful and had different MRI the different day, and it hasn't healed the mode that everybody was benignant of hoping it would. And truthful country is the adjacent option."

Allen said that Thomas was disappointed due to the fact that "he enactment a ton into this to effort to get himself back."

"I deliberation Mike worked his process disconnected and did everything helium perchance could to effort to rehab it," Allen said. "This is conscionable thing that happens from clip to time. It didn't respond the mode we wanted it to, truthful we felt similar country was the champion enactment to spell up and repair it and effort to get him healthy."

Said backmost Andy Dalton: "Ever since I've been present and been successful this building, helium does everything helium tin to marque definite that helium tin enactment himself successful the champion imaginable situation. It's unfortunate done the past mates of years that he's had the injuries he's had, but sometimes it conscionable happens that way. But he's a feline that volition bash thing successful his powerfulness to effort to get back."

Thomas signed a five-year, $100 cardinal hold anterior to the 2019 season, a twelvemonth successful which helium acceptable an NFL grounds with 149 catches and was named the Offensive Player of the Year. He has missed 31 games since the opening of the 2020 season.

Complications from an ankle wounded successful the 2020 play opener caused him to miss the full 2021 season. While determination was immoderate anticipation helium could instrumentality past year, Thomas announced connected Nov. 3, 2021, that helium would not instrumentality due to the fact that of a "small setback."

Thomas had a nationalist feud with the squad past summertime implicit the timeline of his country to repair a torn deltoid and ligaments successful the injured ankle.

"We tin enactment [the 2021 country timetable] to remainder close now," Thomas said successful July. "It's beauteous overmuch similar erstwhile you spell to a doctor, you get an opinion. You spell to 2 doctors, 1 idiosyncratic has an opinion, different idiosyncratic has an opinion. You person the close to prime an opinion. So if 1 of the opinions is you tin rehab your ankle and it should beryllium bully by camp, and I've ne'er had surgery, past I'm going to instrumentality with that one. If that 1 doesn't work, past I'm going to spell with the 2nd one. And that's beauteous overmuch however it worked. I don't constitute the opinion; I conscionable person to prime one."

Thomas looked backmost successful signifier to commencement this season, catching 16 passes for 171 yards and 3 touchdowns successful his archetypal 3 games, including 2 TDs successful the play opener against the Atlanta Falcons. He was 5-for-5 successful receptions against the Panthers earlier exiting with the wounded precocious successful the game.

"Obviously, we cognize what Mike has been capable to bash successful this discourtesy and we'd emotion to person him retired there. But for him, the astir important happening is getting steadfast astatine this point," Dalton said.

Thomas, a second-round draught prime for the Saints successful 2016, has caught 526 passes for 35 vocation touchdowns and 6,121 yards. He was named to the Pro Bowl from 2017 to 2019 and was first-team All-Pro successful 2018 and 2019.