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By Mike Triplett and Nick Underhill 

This reunion looked like it was never going to happen. At least not from a distance.

When the Saints restructured Michael Thomas’ contract in January, it looked like the end of the wide receiver's tenure in New Orleans. The move was modeled off of something the Eagles recently did to beat the cap with players it released with post-June 1 designations. Even the NFLPA filed his new contract with a note stating the move was done to facilitate Thomas’ release.

In a sense, it was designed to just do that. He was never coming back on that deal. He couldn’t, not with the $30 million bonus attached to him. But what many failed to understand, especially us here at NewOrleans.Football, is that the door was still open for Thomas to return on a renegotiated contract. And that’s exactly what he did by agreeing to a one-year deal, $10 million deal with upside to reach $15 million.

Michael Thomas was previously due to make a $15.5 million salary in 2023. If he achieves his bonuses that take his base $10 million salary up to $15 million, Thomas could essentially get back to that number.— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) March 14, 2023

How you view this deal is going to depend entirely on how optimistic you remain about Thomas getting healthy after going through a series of injuries the past three years. If you watched him last year, you saw clearly that he still can play and perform at a high level. The issue is that he showed up, burned brightly and then got hurt again.

MICHAEL THOMAS AGAIN!2nd touchdown of the day vs ATL. Welcome back! 💪 pic.twitter.com/z6pXcTfhZR— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 11, 2022

The talent isn’t a question at all. I’ll admit that being around him, looking into his eyes, seeing how hard he practices and feeling the intensity of his competitiveness might have clouded my eyes, but the view from here is that he can still figure this out.

Will it be hard? Are the odds stacked against him? Absolutely. He has everything to prove. But having him back, as motivated as ever, on a lowered contract with lowered expectations could be such a win for this team if it works out. And if it doesn’t work out, then so be it, and now they know.

We’re going to let our imaginations wander a little, but Thomas in this offense, with this quarterback could be exactly what the team needs. We already know the wide receiver can still make contested catches and get open. That much was clear last year. So, even if he only plays something like 70% of the games at 70% of the level he was at last season, that’d be a huge addition to the offense.

"The first time I talked to (Mike Thomas) on the phone, I don't think he wanted me to get off the phone. I really enjoyed talking to him. I told Mickey 'when you talk to Mike Thomas you feel like you can face the world," - @DerekCarrQB on his talks with @CantGuardMike pic.twitter.com/Di76GmwRKL— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) March 11, 2023

Thomas made 11 contested catches in just three games last year. Chris Olave barely scratched 20 despite playing most of the season. No one else on the roster was making plays like that. Even in a specific role, he'll be an asset to Derek Carr and this offense. At the right price, it was worth finding out what he can still do.

But the Saints should be practical about this. A possession receiver or tight end who could fill that role was near the top of their wish list entering the offseason, and it still should be. Even if you have almost no doubt about Thomas’ ability to come back and be available, you need a contingency plan after how the past three years have played out. The Saint must be prepared for Thomas missing time again.

But, overall, this is a worthwhile bet. Thomas' upside warrants the risk.

Other benefits of the reworked deal

SALARY-CAP FALLOUT: The Saints didn’t do this deal for salary-cap reasons. They had already protected themselves against the cap with that agreement in January, which reduced Thomas’ salary to the league minimum of $1.165 million for 2023.

So unlike the pay cut the Saints worked out with Jameis Winston on Monday, this new deal with Thomas will actually include a pay increase and will slightly raise his 2023 cap number.

However, the difference in cap charges will be minimal. If the Saints had released Thomas this week and designated him as a “June 1 release” he would have counted $13.159 million against their cap until June 1, then $11.994 million in dead money against their cap after June 1.

Now, his cap charge can be as low as $15 million for 2023 if they use the maximum number of void years on his deal. And since he will actually be on the roster, he will count among their top 51 salaries – which will bump somebody else out of the top 51 for accounting purposes.

By comparison, Thomas was originally scheduled to make $16.45 million in salary and bonuses in 2023, with a cap charge of $28.363 million before he agreed to the new arrangement with the Saints in January. So his new deal does represent a substantial savings from his original deal.

If this is Thomas’ final year with the Saints, they will still have to deal with another $14.18 million in future dead money from his previous contracts – but that was going to exist whether they re-signed him or not. And they could add up to $7 million more in future dead-money charges if they make his 2023 cap number as low as possible.

However, they can now delay some of those charges into future years as long as he remains on the roster.

CARR CONNECTION: The “enthusiasm element” of this deal can’t be discounted. Carr was beaming on Saturday while talking about the possibility of playing with Thomas – and the feeling was obviously mutual based on Thomas’ social media posts and his decision to remain in New Orleans.

“Me and Mike, we’ve gotten close through the process in talking,” Carr said. “The first time I talked to him on the phone, I don’t think he wanted me to get off the phone. I really enjoyed talking to him, and I told Mickey (Loomis), you talk to Mike Thomas and you feel like you two could go out there and face the world.

“I told my wife when I got off the phone, and she was like, ‘Why are you smiling?’ And I was like, ‘I love this guy!’ He’s so competitive. Just the energy that he brings, it would be very exciting times to throw him the football. When he started recruiting and talking to me, he wasn’t even trying to recruit me, he was just like, ‘When are we getting to work? We’re wasting time, time is ticking.’ I was like, ‘Dude, I’m the same way. We’ll get there.’ But I think that our relationship has grown through the process, and I’m looking forward to hopefully making that relationship grow even stronger.”

The Saints’ offense has grown disturbingly stale in recent years, largely due to injuries. So it’s a positive sign that two high-profile offensive players that had other choices of where to go in free agency both seem so enthused about reviving it together.