New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas isn’t likely to play again in 2022. Saints head coach Dennis Allen revealed earlier this week that Thomas would need toe surgery that would likely sideline him for the rest of the season.
Criticism soon followed, some of it from fans and almost all of it very harsh. Thomas hasn’t seen the field much since his record-setting 2019 and through no fault of his own either. The star wideout has been maligned by multiple injuries. Now, one major offensive player has come to his defense.
Alvin Kamara, the star running back for the team, addressed reporters on Friday during the Saints’ media availability. Kamara, a leader on the team, stepped up, stood by his teammate Thomas, and fired back at fans’ criticism:
Alvin Kamara didn’t mince words about fans calling out Mike Thomas for being hurt.
He adds that Mike would’ve likely would’ve played through the injury if doctors would’ve let him. #Saints pic.twitter.com/dJm05XfBSF
— Jeff Nowak (@Jeff_Nowak) November 4, 2022
“Mike would’ve likely played through the injury if doctors would’ve let him,” said Kamara by way of Jeff Nowak’s tweet. Kamara went on a lengthy rant, captured by ESPN Saints reporter Katherine Terrell.
Alvin Kamara on Michael Thomas: "It just sucks to have a player of that caliber, an elite player that obviously works hard, and is passionate about the game, that just kinda got hit with some unlucky things…"
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 4, 2022
Kamara: "I just saw a couple of comments in the media about him. Basically like, 'You can't trust him. He's not being honest about his injury, why is he waiting until now to be ruled out?' I'm like, man, nobody knows what we go through in here. The masses get to see Sunday."
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 4, 2022
Kamara: "It's a lot of shit we've got to go through. A player like that, that's fighting to get back, not only for his team, but for the fans and for this city…for people to be talking shit, it's like, ah, it hurts my soul to see that."
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 4, 2022
Kamara: "You know Mike, out of anybody in this locker room, he's one of them dudes who's fighting to be on the field. He even wanted to play still knowing that he had to do that and fix his foot and be out for the season."
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 4, 2022
Kamara: "[It] being that severe … he was trying to play last week. I was like 'Man, if you can't go, you cant go,' and he was like 'I might be back.'"
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 4, 2022
A lot to digest for sure. But it’s as much a passionate defense for a player as we’ve seen in a while in this scenario. Oftentimes, criticism for injured players can be more than a little crazy (just ask Jonathan Taylor this year). In this case, for a player in Thomas, who’s missed much of the last three seasons due to piled-up injuries, it was probably a bit much.
Players understand better than any of us that football is violent as hell and injuries are mostly just bad luck https://t.co/LE9dtlP7tM
— Ralph Malbrough 🥃 (@SaintsForecast) November 4, 2022
Alvin Kamara really drops at least 1 or 2 awesome quotes each media session.
— Chris Rosvoglou (@RosvoglouReport) November 4, 2022
