New Orleans Saints: What must happen for Michael Thomas to be MVP

The New Orleans Saints have a potential MVP candidate this season and it is not Drew Brees, it is his primary pass-catcher, Michael Thomas.

The New Orleans Saints have had an MVP-caliber quarterback for over a decade that has still never won an MVP award. This year, the Saints yet again have a player in the running for MVP, but it is not Drew Brees, as it was in year’s past.

This year’s MVP candidate is a trailblazer (no, not Damian Lillard)—someone who could quite literally make NFL history by becoming the first player at his position to win MVP and the first to receive votes at his position since Randy Moss in 1998.

If you have been following the Saints in even the most minor of ways you know that we are referring to Michael Thomas, who could do something that Moss, Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharpe and all of the great wide receivers have never done: be named NFL MVP.

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Thomas has mind-boggling numbers through 11 games this season. He has hauled in 104 receptions for 1,242 yards and six touchdowns. He has caught 83.9 percent of passes thrown his way.

Thomas is on pace to become the first player to cross 150 receptions in a season and is on pace to finish with the fifth-most receiving yards in a single season all-time.

The important thing about Thomas that differentiates him from other great seasons is that he does not have one quarterback that is sharing the credit. Drew Brees’ injury, in a weird way, actually helped Thomas as his numbers are being split between Teddy Bridgewater and Brees, so you cannot make the “well what about the quarterback” argument.

There are two other strong candidates for the award right now, Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson, both of whom are having great years themselves. Not only does Thomas need to have a great year, but he also has to overcome the stigma of a wide receiver winning the award.

So what needs to happen?

The obvious is that both Jackson and Wilson need to have ugly ends to the season. Wilson has already been producing less in the last few weeks with a combined 432 passing yards in two games. He also has thrown an interception in both games, which is unlike Wilson.

Thomas needs to hope that Wilson’s level of play the rest of the year remains along those lines and should be rooting for the Seahawks to lose. If Wilson ends up struggling, or at least not being great, and the Seahawks only get the sixth-seed then the voters will be swayed.

The same is said for Lamar Jackson. Right now, the Baltimore Ravens look unstoppable and Thomas has to hope that someone figures out that offense and that Lamar Jackson looks more like he did in the playoffs last year then he is so far this year.

If things continue how they currently are then Jackson will run away with the award as the Ravens will be one of the best teams in the AFC. The one thing in Thomas’ corner is that the Ravens have a tough remaining schedule.

They play first seed in the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers, the 8-3 Buffalo Bills, the New York Jets (who aren’t a threat), the Cleveland Browns (who surprised them earlier in the year) and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Ravens need to drop one of the two against the 49ers and Bills, have an ugly win over the Jets, another ugly game against the Browns and then have the Steelers’ defense step up in Week 17 and play their division rival tough. It is a lot to ask for, let’s not pretend that it’s not.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the New Orleans Saints need to finish with at least the best record in the NFC. They are currently one game behind the San Francisco 49ers and need to win out, or at least win more games down the stretch than the 49ers.

The Saints can contribute to this as they play the 49ers and if Thomas has a big game against them then that will only solidify his case. However, unless the Saints are the best in the NFC, he won’t win the award.

A lot of the time the MVP is the best player on the best team. If the New Orleans Saints are not the best record-wise then voters will naturally overlook Thomas. That is just how things are and it is unfortunate.