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Michael Thomas always has had a thirst for greatness. Soon, he will be reunited with one of the people who helped him try to quench that thirst during his formative years.

While Thomas was in high school, he attended various camps and worked out with different players to hone his craft. But he also used his social media accounts to get in touch with other wide receivers and would pick their brains for insight into how they ran certain routes.

One of those guys happened to be Jarvis Landry, who recently signed with the Saints.

“He was always interested, curious,” Landry said recently. “He was curious about learning the things from myself, learning things from Odell (Beckham). That kind of carried on when he got to Ohio State and carried on as we got … in the league.”

Landry referred to Thomas as his brother and said he is eager to see what Thomas can do when he returns from his injury. Landry doesn’t envision any problems with the two receivers meshing despite playing with similar skill sets.

“We all pose something a little bit different,” Landry said, “and I think the biggest thing is we can all make plays.”

ALONTAE'S CONTRACT: Second-round pick Alontae Taylor has yet to sign his contract. According to multiple sources, it sounds like the holdup is a negotiation over the percentage of guaranteed money in his contract.

Most aspects of rookie contracts are slotted and standard, but there is some room for negotiating on specific aspects of a deal. Guaranteed money and offset language are typically the two issues that lead to a standoff.

For now, this situation isn’t a big deal. Taylor is participating in practice, getting all the necessary developmental time on the field. But it will be interesting to see if either side takes a hard line at some point if a resolution isn’t reached by training camp.

Taylor said Thursday he is willing to be patient and wait for his agency to negotiate the right deal.

PENNING'S SPOT: Trevor Penning is still a work in progress.

The first-round pick has taken all the starting snaps at left tackle this summer while James Hurst recovers from an injury, but that doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed anything. When you watch Penning, his talent and potential are obvious. He’s enjoyed a lot of good moments so far, but you can tell he’s still picking things up.

The visual reminds that he has plenty to learn between now and Week 1 against Atlanta. The feeling we’ve been able to gather is that New Orleans won’t be afraid to start whoever looks best by the end of training camp.

TAILORING OFFENSE: How the Saints tailor their offense to best suit their personnel will be one of the most fascinating aspects of the season. We’ve already talked about it a bunch and will continue the conversation throughout the season as we gather more data about the changes.

For now, coach Dennis Allen said the team isn’t married to any particular way of doing things and will let the players determine which direction the offense takes.

“The best coaching jobs are the ones where you identify what you do really well,” Allen said. “You put your guys in those positions to do those things. And then the things you don’t do as well, you try to limit the times you’re asking guys to do that. I think the identity of the offense will come to life as we get into training camp, get into some preseason games and really identify the things that we do really well.”

In this offense, there are two very different sets of skills at wide receiver.

In Thomas and Landry, you have players who excel at getting open, often over the middle, but predominately in the shorter areas of the field. Meanwhile, guys like Chris Olave and Deonte Harty (Harris) are better at attacking downfield and outside the numbers.

The quarterback, Jameis Winston, has been at his best during his career throwing outside the numbers and downfield.

So what will give?

One thing to keep in mind is that Thomas was used in a much different manner as a rookie in 2016 before the offense became more condensed. The wide receiver caught 43% of his passes over the middle that season. That number jumped to 57% in 2017, 64% in 2018 and 61% in 2019. Seeing the ratio move closer to what it was in 2016 now that Winston is at quarterback wouldn’t be a surprise.

DID YOU KNOW?: Tyrann Mathieu held quarterbacks to -19.8 expected points added when throwing his direction last year, which ranked ninth among defensive backs, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

EPA is a stat that tries to quantify the actual value of each play. For example, a gain of 4 yards on third-and-4 increases a team’s scoring and winning odds much more than the same gain on third-and-10. Therefore, the first outcome would add EPA while the second play would subtract.

The33rdteam.com has a good explainer on how EPA works for those who are not familiar.

TURNER GETTING IT RIGHT: Sometimes, it is easy to forget the Saints are getting three first-round picks on the field this year.

All the excitement has centered on 2022 first-rounders Olave and Penning, but last year’s first-round pick, Payton Turner, is getting healthy and should offer a significant impact at defensive end.

Turner played well in limited action last year. He was productive during his first start, finishing with five hurries and a sack against the Panthers. But he was up and down during his four subsequent appearances before suffering a shoulder injury that ended his season.

Turner isn’t yet practicing and is rehabbing behind the scenes. He said for now, he’s being smart about it and expects to be back for training camp. He couldn’t work on his pass rush too much this offseason due to the nature of his surgery, but he’s been studying film and trying to find ways to get better.

“Just be more consistent. I think that’s probably the biggest thing I want to focus on this year,” Turner said recently. “There were flashes for sure, but they’re also down some. So just being consistent across everything.”

Beyond just having the best defense possible, Turner’s development could play a critical role in how willing the Saints are to invest in fellow lineman Marcus Davenport. The Saints believe Davenport is one of the most-talented players on the team, but his availability (an average of 12 games per season) has been a significant issue. If Turner plays well, New Orleans could choose to move forward with the younger player and look for other ways to get an eventual replacement for Cam Jordan on the roster.

OLAVE ELEVATING: The early reviews on Olave have all been outstanding.

He’s quickly making an impression on his teammates with his smooth play on the field and how easily he’s been able to pick up the playbook.

“He’s been outstanding. He’s in great shape, running great routes,” Landry said. “He’s on top of the playbook. He’s gonna be a big-time contributor for sure, as it looks like now."

Olave has been handling the “Z” receiver spot at practices, which is where he is expected to play this season. He was active during the first OTA open to the media, though the ball didn’t find him as often during the second session.

The rookie said he feels good with where he’s at in the playbook, and he also remarked on how strong Winston’s arm is.

"I tried to catch a deep ball form him the other day, and he overthrew me," Olave said. "That’s when I knew his arm was there. Then we got it going and connected on some."

New Orleans is betting heavily on Olave’s ability to quickly pick up the playbook and make an immediate impact after trading multiple draft picks to select him.