Gumbo
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Saints receiver Michael Thomas has become one of the most intense, motivated, and driven players in all of football. He’s still driven in part by the fact that, in the 2016 draft, he slipped to round two.
On Sunday, he gets to play one of the teams that considered drafting him, but that instead selected Laquon Treadwell in round one.
Yes, the Vikings could have had Michael Thomas. But they chose Treadwell instead, who was cut by the Vikings before the 2019 season and later brought back due to injuries at the position.
Now, the Vikings have to figure out how to handle the man who caught more passes in a single season than any player in league history.
It won’t be easy. Two years ago, Thomas had seven catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns against the Vikings in the divisional round.
On Wednesday, coach Mike Zimmer suggested that cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who likely is playing his final game with the Vikings on Sunday, could be given the task of covering Thomas. And perhaps physicality with Thomas at the line of scrimmage will be the best/only way to slow him down. Even then, the Vikings can’t expect to shut him down.
And if they devote too many resources to doing so, they’ll end up roasted in the running game, and/or by tight end Jared Cook.
Throw in coach Sean Payton’s legendary ability to draw up plays aimed at beating any scheme he faces, and it could be a long, long day for a Vikings defense that would have a much easier task if Michael Thomas was playing for the Vikings instead of the Saints.