Michael Thomas Thread: Still a WR1?

[Hahaclintondix]

I'm confused as to how is currently a WR1 statistically, as he was last year, and should finish as one of 4 receivers to ever have 70+ receptions/1000 yards in their first two seasons, but is being discounted as doing less. After Cooper's second season was being anointed a top 5 dynasty asset, at his current pace, MT's stats over his first two seasons easily exceed Coopers. Why is there an argument that he is isn't a WR1 until we see otherwise.

1,000x this. But Allen Robinson, who has had 1 good season is a top 12 WR totally makes sense.

[Coogan Football]

This is literally one of the most confusing threads I've ever seen on here...

If Thomas is NOT in your top-12 WRs for DYNASTY then you are smoking crack

[ColdZealDonkeyStrike]

I'm confused as to how is currently a WR1 statistically, as he was last year, and should finish as one of 4 receivers to ever have 70+ receptions/1000 yards in their first two seasons, but is being discounted as doing less. After Cooper's second season was being anointed a top 5 dynasty asset, at his current pace, MT's stats over his first two seasons easily exceed Coopers. Why is there an argument that he is isn't a WR1 until we see otherwise.

1,000x this. But Allen Robinson, who has had 1 good season is a top 12 WR totally makes sense.

To be fair, Robinson's 1 good season was almost 50 points better than Thomas' last year, and 60 points better than Thomas' current pace. He also did it before Thomas entered the league despite being younger than Thomas. And he did it with Blake Bortles instead of Drew Brees. But yeah, otherwise the same "good season".

[grooner]

I'm confused as to how is currently a WR1 statistically, as he was last year, and should finish as one of 4 receivers to ever have 70+ receptions/1000 yards in their first two seasons, but is being discounted as doing less. After Cooper's second season was being anointed a top 5 dynasty asset, at his current pace, MT's stats over his first two seasons easily exceed Coopers. Why is there an argument that he is isn't a WR1 until we see otherwise.

1,000x this. But Allen Robinson, who has had 1 good season is a top 12 WR totally makes sense.

To be fair, Robinson's 1 good season was almost 50 points better than Thomas' last year, and 60 points better than Thomas' current pace. He also did it before Thomas entered the league despite being younger than Thomas. And he did it with Blake Bortles instead of Drew Brees. But yeah, otherwise the same "good season".

To also be fair, Robinson's one good season he had 30 more targets than Thomas did last year, and is projected to be ~10 more targets than Thomas will have this year. His one good season also was a result of a ton of garbage time padding his stats. His next season he also saw the 150 targets again and did nothing with them, as they didn't convert nearly as many garbage time stats. But yeah, otherwise the same "good season". (it's easy to cherry pick stats, and im just trying to bust your balls)

I am slightly confused how guys have DT over thomas, but everyone has different opinions. I know, i would never give thomas for DT, or Dez, but would prefer Julio/AJG to Thomas. I think Thomas slots in right around 6-10, and could easily move up if he produces well the rest of the season, or has a great year 3 also.

[Hahaclintondix]

I'm confused as to how is currently a WR1 statistically, as he was last year, and should finish as one of 4 receivers to ever have 70+ receptions/1000 yards in their first two seasons, but is being discounted as doing less. After Cooper's second season was being anointed a top 5 dynasty asset, at his current pace, MT's stats over his first two seasons easily exceed Coopers. Why is there an argument that he is isn't a WR1 until we see otherwise.

1,000x this. But Allen Robinson, who has had 1 good season is a top 12 WR totally makes sense.

To be fair, Robinson's 1 good season was almost 50 points better than Thomas' last year, and 60 points better than Thomas' current pace. He also did it before Thomas entered the league despite being younger than Thomas. And he did it with Blake Bortles instead of Drew Brees. But yeah, otherwise the same "good season".

Braylon Edwards had a good season this one time. Many of us would gladly take the guy who will have 80+ catches and over 1100 yards in each of his first two years. You take the guy who went bonkers in the perfect situation one time in 4 years. To each his own, but Thomas is top 12 and it's not even a legitimate question.

[DinoDynasty]

To discount Thomas because of what his QB future might be in several years is foolish. Brees came out and said he wants to continue to play in NO for multiple years. Trying to predict if they will end up drafting a Luck or a Bortles when Brees is gone is nonsense. No one is dropping AB and OBJ from their respective place in the top 3 because Ben and Eli are fading (faster than Brees). DT and Jordy may very well be out of the league before Brees retires. Arob being ranked over MT is just as foolish, we his QB situation may be the murkiest of them all and his proven production is limited to one season.

Furthermore, any argument that Cooper deserved his top 5 rankings, while MT doesn't deserve the WR1 ranking, is completely ignoring the fact that Cooper was outplayed by crabtree in both of the seasons he produced his 70/1000 lines. As a rookie, MT came in and averaged more yards, TDs, and receptions than Cooks, who I believe we can all agree is a better WR than Crabtree.

Currently Thomas is the #8 scoring WR in PPR. He is also the youngest player in the top 8. If he scored 1 more TD this year, he would be #3 in scoring.

Last year Thomas was #8 scoring WR in PPR. He was the youngest player in the top 8, outside of Mike Evans.

[ColdZealDonkeyStrike]

I knew the replies about Robinson would be A) garbage time and/or B) something something Braylon Edwards

I am not sure why there is so much discussion about who considers Thomas a WR1. After the top 3 (OBJ, Evans, Nuk) and the 3 super vets (AJG, AB, Julio) there is a tier of 8 or 9 guys that are pretty similar. If I have 2 of those guys, I don't really care which one is considered my WR1.

[flashgordon12]

People forget Josh Gordon > Michael Thomas. So with that being said... fringe WR1/2

[ShipShape]

I'm surprised how polarizing MT appears to be. In a startup this year my #1 pick at the 9 holes was between MT & Coop.
I went Coop based on QB & situation with a dash of homerism, but I love MT. I think he's already proven himself as a top tier dynasty WR. Does he have the talent to be an elite top 5 WR type? Remains to be seen. But I'd take what he's provided this year every year in a heartbeat. TD's will come and go, but he's proving to be consistent, and that's hard to find. Only concern I have is the QB sitch, but I think Brees will stick around awhile, and you can say the same about a lot of guys, just have to trust the talent.

[btv802]

Saw him traded recently for three 1sts...two were from strong playoff teams and one from a team on the playoff bubble.

[Cameron Giles]

As a WR, he wins at each level of the field, is a superb route runner, reliable hands, and wins in the redzone. To me, it seems the only downside is that one day Brees will retire and Sean Payton might leave, and New Orleans offense could look completely different. By that same logic, it wouldn't make sense why Odell Beckham is #1 in ADP, given he has a worse QB who could retire in a few seasons and he's in a worse offense.

So, at what point is Thomas not in the discussion for the top asset? Through three games he's at 38 receptions, 398 yards and 3 TDs. Yes, regression will come but at this point he's one of the easiest starts in fantasy right now. Thomas has at least 5 receptions or 50 yards in 22 straight games. Sure, Brees will retire one day, but it won't be in anytime soon at the rate he's playing (on pace for over 5000 yards at age 40 and gets to play at least 9 games in a dome each season).

[hoos89]

You're looking at the QB question a bit wrong with respect to OBJ. He's produced at a high level in spite of his QB, whereas the argument goes that MT is producing at this level because of his QB. Eli's impending retirement or a potential change of team/offensive scheme for OBJ in the coming years is a plus, not a negative. Opposite is true for MT's situation.

[Friction]

The argument can definitely be made, a long with the rebuttals you already stated. I know a similar thought with Hopkins came up last year when Watson was going nuts, due to age+talent and a ton of volume. This goes in spurts and I am guessing SaQuan might have a thread titled this way in the offseason. It's why I hate picking at #1 during start ups. Good choices at the top, no clear cut guy usually.

[Phaded]

MT is very talented himself and I do not think he is a product of Drew Brees.

The argument that could be made for the QB situation is definitely the efficiency which currently is a crazy 38 receptions off 40 targets.

I would put him in that top tier of WRs though. The OBJ owner in my league is shopping him and initially approached me about MT+ for him. At this point, I said I would rather keep MT (also consider myself a top contender this year).

[hockeyBjj]

He's sure as bleep making his case for it