Michael Thomas is the NFL’s Best Kept Secret
Going into the NFL Draft last year, there was a lot of speculation as to which college wide receiver would come off the board first. Though many believed that the 2016 class lacked elite-level talent, the wide receiver conversation boiled down to four names: Josh Doctson from TCU, Will Fuller from Notre Dame, Baylor’s Corey Coleman and Ole Miss’ Laquon Treadwell. Eventually, all four wideouts were drafted in the first round, but as we approach the end to the season, the quartet has yet to make a significant contribution. Fuller and Coleman’s big plays have been few and far between, and Treadwell and Doctson can’t get on the field. Fuller has the most catches out of any first-round receiver with 41, and there are five rookie receivers with more receptions than him.
One of those receivers is New Orleans Saints’ Michael Thomas, who was the sixth receiver drafted and the 47th pick overall. Currently, he leads all rookies in receptions and receiving yards and touchdowns, and has quickly become the focal point of the NFL’s most prolific passing offense.
Coming out of Ohio State, Thomas — the nephew of former NFL standout Keyshawn Johnson — was heralded for his stature and hand size in a draft dominated by smaller prospects, but criticized for his lack of explosiveness. Standing 6’3” and 215 pounds, he has the stature of a WR1 who can create mismatches at all levels of the defense, but slipped because of the combine results that portrayed him as a subpar athlete. But if you look closer, Thomas doesn’t have a flashy skill set that would wow NFL scouts or fans enamored with highlight plays. He has a fundamental one. He excels at his precise route running, understanding how to play the ball in flight and using his feet to catch the ball and gain more YAC.
Thomas showed off a few of these positive traits in his first NFL game against the Oakland Raiders. At the line of scrimmage, he often relies on decisive cuts and his strength to beat press coverage through his routes. In this example, you can see Thomas shedding Sean Smith’s press coverage by stutter-stepping on his release and working upfield. Thomas has no intention of running a downfield route; he knows Smith is going to lunge so he gets him off balance by selling the outside route and then planting his left foot and working back inside for the slant. That subtle manipulation spins Smith around, creating a wide-open window for Brees to throw the pass.
But that’s not all. Look at Thomas’ hands and feet at the catch point. He jumps for a ball that he doesn’t necessarily need to jump for, but does so to set up his next move. Using your feet to catch the ball is crucial in setting up YAC opportunities. The ball leads him towards the middle of the field but Thomas, while in the air, takes a peek at Smith as soon as he catches the ball. As he lands, he’s perfectly balanced and plants his right foot and heads towards the sideline, leaving Smith in his wake again. Planting the foot allows Thomas to stop his momentum, and make a singular decisive move upfield with no wasted motion.
His ability to sell the outside route and quick jab inside is consistently exaggerated enough to beat quality defenders. Against the Kansas City Chiefs, he sells the go route and jab inside for the slant before the cornerback can touch him:
For someone his size, he has great body control and quick feet to transition from catching to running. Thomas excels at turning his body while catching the ball, which allows him to shift his weight upfield without losing momentum. In Week 9 against San Francisco, Thomas catches a back-shoulder throw in stride instead of stopping, gaining seven more yards in the process:
Most players will catch that ball and fall over. Thomas’ feet are fluid enough that he can adjust for the ball while running and keep his balance. A different example of this was on a short comeback route against the Seattle Seahawks. Matched up against DeShawn Snead, Thomas again sells the upfield route, plants his foot and sits down. When Thomas jumps and catches the ball, his body is facing Brees. When he lands, he’s already facing Snead in a wide balanced stance. It’s like the very-less-exciting football version of Hakeem Olajuwon’s Dream Shake:
Thomas also knows how to comfortably catch the ball depending on the situations because of the quality routes he runs. Receivers catching with their hands has always been looked upon as highly positive. The NFL’s elite wideouts — Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr., Julio Jones — are phenomenal hand catchers who don’t allow the ball to get trapped against their bodies, and they use their hands to pull the ball away from tight coverage. However, using your body to catch isn’t always a bad approach. Sometimes it’s more economical than a hands catch. Michael Crabtree is the perfect example of this, and he’s whom I see most similarities in Thomas as a wide receiver.
Here’s my favorite play from Crabtree this season, which was against Thomas’ Saints. He sells the upfield route, fakes inside to freeze the cornerback and gain more separation, plants his foot and cuts outside. David Carr is late with the throw and the cornerback is closing the gap, so Crabtree works back to the football and catches it with his hands to ensure the completion while simultaneously positioning himself to avoid the tackle and gain more yards downfield:
It highlights everything that makes Crabtree a great playmaking receiver: route-running, awareness, great feet and focus. On the flip side, he also understands when to absorb the football instead of attacking. In Week 4 against the Ravens, Crabtree shook the cornerback out of his cleats and used his body to ensure the game-winning touchdown catch for the Raiders:
If Crabtree stops and attacks that pass in the air, free safety Kendrick Lewis has a legitimate chance to get back into the play. By letting the ball travel, it buys him another second, leading to the touchdown.
Crabtree has some of the best hands in the league, but he’s never been a freak athlete. Instead, he’s a master technician with an understanding of how to approach the ball in flight. That understanding allows him to set up yards after the catch and make the big plays his athleticism wouldn’t necessarily afford him. Thomas has these traits, too.
Look at Thomas working against former Ohio State teammate and New York Giant rookie Eli Apple. The route is long-developing and Apple plays Thomas well, but Thomas’s physicality after initial contact and ability to straighten his stem before cutting inside gets him his separation. As the ball is in flight, he has a few steps on Apple so instead of plucking the ball out of the air and halting momentum, he absorbs the throw with his chest in stride and works upfield for 10 more yards.
In comparison, Crabtree is smaller and therefore slightly more agile than Thomas, so he can create better separation on routes that allows him to dictate what type of catch he needs to make. But Thomas’s size will allow him to simply manhandle cornerbacks because of his wide catch radius and intelligence. He’s quick enough to beat you off the line of scrimmage and big enough to pluck the football out of the sky as he does here against the Arizona Cardinals:
Against Oakland, Thomas is matched up against D.J. Hayden, a smaller quicker cornerback. Hayden doesn’t press or lunge at Thomas and reads the slant route perfectly. He tries to jump inside but Thomas’s physicality and strong hands turn a potential interception into a completion.
That strength coupled with veteran savviness has helped Thomas silence critics who questioned whether he could create big-play opportunities downfield. During his routes, he uses various speeds and can break down his hips to keep cornerbacks on their heels. He also gets great separation on the top of his routes which usually sets up for the comeback route or back shoulder throw. Thomas drives upfield hard on every route, and Brees delivered the ball on these back shoulder throws multiple times against the Kansas City Chiefs:
Look at the subtle use of his right arm to keep the defender at bay, and then the soft push-off with the same hand as the ball is arriving. It’s fluid and indistinct enough that it looks like natural movement, and not a deliberate attempt to create space. That’s the beauty of Thomas’ game. It’s the pristine subtleties that happen before the ball arrives that have led to his productive rookie season. These aren’t ostentatious skills. You can still be a productive playmaker in the NFL without those traits. But the reason Thomas is having so much success because he’s technically sound. He knows how to manipulate his defenders with his routes and understands how to approach the football in the air. And as the sixth receiver taken in last year’s draft, New Orleans got an absolute steal.
