The New Orleans Saints are heading into a new era with Derek Carr at the helm and it appears there was one player who actually played a key part in the quarterback deciding to sign with the team over other clubs: Michael Thomas.

Before putting pen to paper, Carr and Thomas had a series of offseason calls. The signal-caller wanted to see where Thomas's mind was at, especially after rumors that he could be on the move. Via ESPN:

“The recruiting process, he was very important,” Carr said. “I wanted to know where his mind was and what decisions he was making because that mattered to me.

“I couldn’t wait until he got in the building … because a big part of my decision was Mike Thomas.”

The feeling was mutual. The Saints deciding to make Carr their next QB1 was also integral in the wideout staying put.

“I always knew I was going to be here,” Thomas said. “I knew I would be the receiver. I knew our priorities for the offseason was to get a quarterback and put some pieces around us. So I was always involved.”

As we know, a relationship between a quarterback and wide receiver is absolutely crucial. Especially because Thomas is likely going to be Carr's top target. And by the sounds of it, the two are ready to wreak havoc:

“He wants to win just like I want to win,” Thomas said. “He’s just very disciplined. He’s on top of his stuff. He came here for a reason. That’s the same type of confidence I hear in his voice — he came here for a reason, he came here to win. You can feel the sense of urgency. He loves ball. It’s not hard working with him. … He tells me what to do, I tell him where I’m going to be, and we’re on the same page. We can execute at a high level.”

Hopefully, their bromance results in the utmost success on the field.