The New Orleans Saints are hoping that their offense can get back on track in 2022 after a down 2021 season. New Orleans finished 19th in points and 28th in yardage last season, ending a streak of 10 consecutive seasons in that they were in the top 10 in points. It was the second consecutive season that they were outside of the top 10 in yardage after 14 straight seasons of being inside the top nine.

A big reason for the team’s struggles offensively was that Jameis Winston injured his knee in Week 8, knocking him out for the remainder of the season. They were also without their No. 1 wide receiver Michael Thomas for the entire year.

Thomas suffered an ankle injury during the 2021 offseason and he was never able to get healthy enough to get back on the field. He struggled to stay on the field in 2020 as well, appearing in only seven games.

Before that, Thomas was staking his claim as the best wide receiver in the NFL. He led the NFL in receptions in 2018 and 2019, catching 125 passes and then 149 the following season. He also led the NFL in receiving yards in 2019 with 1,725, which followed up an impressive 2018 in which he had 1,405 yards. In both seasons he caught nine touchdown passes.

The Saints are certainly hoping that he can reclaim that form during the upcoming season, which would help them turn things around. However, Thomas doesn’t want to perform as well as he did in 2019; he is planning on topping that.

After missing all of last season, that is certainly a lofty goal for Thomas to have. But, as he has shown in the past, he is more than capable of achieving greatness at the wide receiver position as he was unstoppable before injuries slowed him down.

If Thomas can stay healthy, he has a chance to put up some gaudy numbers. Jameis Winston has shown that he can sling the rock and it will be tough for defenses to key in on him. Alvin Kamara, Jarvis Landry and rookie Chris Olave will garner some attention from opponents, providing Thomas plenty of opportunities to take advantage of.