Michael Thomas Fantasy Football Profile, News and Stats

Michael Thomas
WR
, New Orleans Saints

Age: 26
Weight: 212 lbs
Height: 6' 3"

ADP: 5
Depth Chart Ranking: 1

Pts	RecYds	RecTD	Rec	RuYds
226	1725	9	149	-9

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Draft note

by John Paulsen

Thomas followed up a No. 6 finish in 2018 with a No. 1 finish last season, outscoring the No. 2 receiver (Chris Godwin) by nearly 70 points in half-PPR formats. Thomas is the favorite to finish No. 1 again, though the arrival of Emmanuel Sanders is likely to put a slight dent in the 185 targets that he saw last season. Since 2000, there have been 18 receivers who have seen at least 180 targets and on average, the other 17 receivers saw their targets per game drop by an average of 18% the following year. That would put Thomas’s catches back in the 120-125 range if his catch rate holds. He’s still a solid pick in the first round, but owners shouldn’t expect another 149-catch season.

Latest news

Saints Beat: WR Emmanuel Sanders could have big impact

ESPN

Jul 28 · 8:46 AM EDT

It’s quite possible New Orleans Saints receiver Emmanuel Sanders makes the biggest impact of any NFL free agent this year.

Sure, that might sound like hyperbole -- especially since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just added quarterback Tom Brady in the same division. But we’re talking about a Saints team that finished 13-3 in each of the past two seasons. And their lack of go-to receivers behind Michael Thomas was one of the few things holding them back in both playoff exits.

Fantasy Impact:

The story said Sanders should pick up the offense quickly in New Orleans. ESPN projects Sanders for a line of 56-746-6, while we have him for 67-904-6 line. We also think if he stays healthy he could catch up to 80 passes this season. Right now we rank Sanders 35th among our WRs in PPR league and he's going late in drafts, but there seems to be some potential value there.

Scouting report

by Bill Riccette

· Jul 31 · 10:17 AM EDT

NO WR Michael Thomas - 2020 Fantasy Football Outlook

Fantasy Upside

What more is there really to say about Michael Thomas? He was the No. 1 fantasy receiver by a wide margin over Chris Godwin in 2019, setting an NFL record with 149 receptions. He's arguably the best receiver in football (the players voted him as the best receiver and top-five overall on their top 100 list).

Fantasy Downside

The Saints actually have a legitimate second wide receiver opposite Thomas in Emmanuel Sanders. But that only means Thomas just won't hit 150 or probably even 140 catches, As our John Paulsen wrote in his draft notes: "Since 2000, there have been 18 receivers who have seen at least 180 targets and on average, the other 17 receivers saw their targets per game drop by an average of 18% the following year. That would put Thomas’s catches back in the 120-125 range if his catch rate holds. He’s still a solid pick in the first round, but owners shouldn’t expect another 149-catch season."

2020 Bottom Line

Thomas is a first-round pick. Period. Some may have him as the first receiver in fantasy, others may have guys such as Julio Jones or Davante Adams. Regardless, Thomas is going to be among the top of the list again, but he likely is going to be closer to the pack than he was in 2019.

2020 Strength of Schedule - NO

W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9	W10	W11	W12	W13	W14	W15	W16	W17
29 TB	27 @LV	16 GB	32 @DET	4 LAC	BYE	14 CAR	3 @CHI	29 @TB	9 SF	21 ATL	13 @DEN	21 @ATL	23 @PHI	5 KC	26 MIN	14 @CAR

Schedule difficulty based on schedule-adjusted, positional defensive ranking. Top DEF = 1, bottom DEF = 32.

2019 Game Stats

Week	Opp	Rec	RecYds	RecTD	Tgts	YPR	RuAtt	RuYds	RuTD	Fum	YPC	STD	PPR	Snaps	%
1	HOU	10	123	0	13	12.30	0	0	0	0	0.00	12.3	22.3	59/66	89.4%
2	@LAR	10	89	0	13	8.90	0	0	0	0	0.00	8.9	18.9	64/65	98.5%
3	@SEA	5	54	1	7	10.80	0	0	0	0	0.00	11.4	16.4	51/58	87.9%
4	DAL	9	95	0	9	10.56	0	0	0	0	0.00	9.5	18.5	69/71	97.2%
5	TB	11	182	2	13	16.55	0	0	0	0	0.00	30.2	41.2	64/70	91.4%
6	@JAX	8	89	0	12	11.12	0	0	0	0	0.00	8.9	16.9	65/66	98.5%
7	@CHI	9	131	0	11	14.56	0	0	0	0	0.00	13.1	22.1	73/78	93.6%
8	ARI	11	112	1	11	10.18	1	-9	0	0	-9.00	16.3	27.3	68/76	89.5%
9	BYE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	ATL	13	152	0	14	11.69	0	0	0	0	0.00	15.2	28.2	66/69	95.7%
11	@TB	8	114	1	11	14.25	0	0	0	0	0.00	17.4	25.4	57/70	81.4%
12	CAR	10	101	1	11	10.10	0	0	0	0	0.00	16.1	26.1	58/66	87.9%
13	@ATL	6	48	0	8	8.00	0	0	0	0	0.00	4.8	10.8	40/50	80.0%
14	SF	11	134	1	15	12.18	0	0	0	0	0.00	19.4	30.4	70/72	97.2%
15	IND	12	128	1	12	10.67	0	0	0	0	0.00	18.8	30.8	48/67	71.6%
16	@TEN	12	136	1	17	11.33	0	0	0	0	0.00	19.6	31.6	61/70	87.1%
17	@CAR	4	37	0	9	9.25	0	0	0	0	0.00	3.7	7.7	46/69	66.7%
Per game		9.31	107.81	0.56	11.63	11.58	0.06	-0.56	0	0	-9.00	14.10	23.41	59.94/67.69	88.35%
Totals		149	1725	9	186	11.58	1	-9	0	0	-9.00	225.6	374.6	959/1083	88.35%