Michael Thomas holding out of Saints camp for new deal (turned down saints offer, wants to be highest paid in league)

[LinvilleGorge]

18 minutes ago, Trill OG said:

I hope they trade him, one less weapon we have to deal with when we face the Saints.

I can see a team like Buffalo willing to pay him his money. They aren't afraid to make big trades either.

Don't get your hopes up. It never matters how tight they are against the cap or how massive of a contract a guy is demanding, somehow they always find the cap space. They probably will have to give him a backloaded as hell Hurney 1.0 style contract though.

[MountaineerChemist10]

[saints4lifeagain]

6 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Don't get your hopes up. It never matters how tight they are against the cap or how massive of a contract a guy is demanding, somehow they always find the cap space. They probably will have to give him a backloaded as hell Hurney 1.0 style contract though.

They’re not really even that tight against the cap. Have $12 million in space. 

[SOJA]

Saints are cap wizards at this point I have no idea how they keep paying people 

[rayzor]

Last I saw, 20>12.

[jumpman910]

This was always going to happen. The moment you saw him re-tweeting about odell's contract and how he's on a better pace you knew he'd want to break the bank 

Surprised he's holding out this summer and not next tho. Probably wants to get paid before a potential Bress decline from age/lockout in a few summers. 

[LinvilleGorge]

10 minutes ago, saints4lifeagain said:

They’re not really even that tight against the cap. Have $12 million in space. 

It's not so much about the current, but the future. Brees' contract expires after this year so you'll either have to pay him a king's ransom on a short term cap killer deal or find a new QB. If he's still playing at a high level, he's probably going to want $30M. Von Bell is also going to be a free agent and the safety market blew up this off-season. With Brees, Thomas, and Bell all coming up on free agency, all of a sudden next year's $44M on cap space looks awfully tight.

[DeeJay]

Go for broke 60 million!!

You one of the best!

[TheRumGone]

25 minutes ago, saints4lifeagain said:

He deserves every penny he gets. 

You can be honest, doesn’t mean you’re less of a fan of the saints. He’s holding out to prove he’s the highest paid wr. When it’s literally 1-2 million more a year than what they offered. Michael Thomas is an ass. This isn’t his first prima donna incident.

[LinvilleGorge]

4 minutes ago, TheRumGone said:

You can be honest, doesn’t mean you’re less of a fan of the saints. He’s holding out to prove he’s the highest paid wr. When it’s literally 1-2 million more a year than what they offered. Michael Thomas is an ass. This isn’t his first prima donna incident.

You get to a certain point where the money is just a way of keeping score and that point is likely somewhere well before $20M per year.

[LinvilleGorge]

I'm all for the Saints paying him out the nose. He's never had a 100 yard game against us. Bradbury matches up very well against all of the opposing #1 WRs in our division. Mike Evans, Julio Jones, and Michael Thomas are all absolutely elite NFL WRs but none posted a 100 yard game against us last year despite our weak pass rush and Bradbury is the primary reason for that.

[t96]

So next year if Brees is still around, him and Thomas would be taking up nearly a third of their entire cap... You do you Aints

[CanadianCat]

he deserves it.. 

[Captain Morgan]

25 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

It's not so much about the current, but the future. Brees' contract expires after this year so you'll either have to pay him a king's ransom on a short term cap killer deal or find a new QB. If he's still playing at a high level, he's probably going to want $30M. Von Bell is also going to be a free agent and the safety market blew up this off-season. With Brees, Thomas, and Bell all coming up on free agency, all of a sudden next year's $44M on cap space looks awfully tight.

Next year, Brees, backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and guard Andrus Peat are among the scheduled free agents. Then running back Alvin Kamara, guard Larry Warford and linebacker Demario Davis come due in 2021, followed by cornerback Marshon Lattimore and offensive tackles Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk in 2022.

The Saints also have more than $26 million in "dead money" scheduled to count against their salary cap in 2020 because of the way they have structured Brees' contract.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27256008/source-wr-thomas-absent-saints-camp

 

if they end up paying Drew and Mike 45 mill per this year and or next, it means every other player on the team will get at most an average of 2.5 mill per.  It's Thomas or a bunch of very good players.   But if they were willing to pay 18.5, which they've offered, it's probably close enough to get done.  But the future is going to suck for them.