In appreciation of Saints' Michael Thomas, who is on pace to crush the single-season catch record
If you’re a New Orleans Saints fan or a fantasy team owner lucky enough to have him on your roster, you’re probably well aware of the season Michael Thomas is having so far.
But we should all pause for a moment to discuss Thomas’ production through 10 games this season and the first 57 regular season games of his career, because it’s amazing.
94 catches in 10 games
Let’s start with this season. In Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Thomas had 8 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, his fourth straight 100-yard game and sixth of 2019.
The eight receptions gave him 94 for the season — that’s not a typo. Ninety-four catches through 10 games.
Not only is that a new record for the first 10 games in a season, surpassing the 89 Marvin Harrison had in 2002 and Julio Jones had in 2015, it’s more than all of the receivers on the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles have combined. Baltimore’s receiver group has 74 total catches, the Eagles’ receiver group 93.
The 26-year-old Thomas, who agreed to a record-breaking contract extension with New Orleans during training camp, has caught passes from three quarterbacks: Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, and Taysom Hill, who as the Saints’ slash offensive player has two completed passes on two attempts this season, both to Thomas.
Thomas is on pace for 150 catches this season, which would surpass the 143 Harrison had in 2002.
400-plus career catches already
The 47th pick in 2016, Thomas is so prolific that in just 57 career regular-season games, he already has 415 receptions. He’s already fourth on the Saints’ all-time list, behind only Marques Colston (711 catches in 10 years with New Orleans), Eric Martin (532, nine) and Joe Horn (523, seven).
Thomas is the first player in NFL history to record 90 or more receptions in each of his first four seasons, and that 415 mark is also a record for any player in his first four years — a number that will only grow since there are six games remaining in the regular season.
Jarvis Landry previously held the mark for most catches over the first four seasons of a career, with 400.
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