The New Orleans Saints are heading into a new era without legendary quarterback Drew Brees, but they still have the best receiver to ever play for the franchise, Michael Thomas. However, he will miss the start of the season after getting ankle surgery in June. It appears though his prolonged recovery comes down to his lack of communication with the Saints in the offseason. Via Jeff Duncan of Nola.com:

After the 2020 season, the Saints medical staff examined Thomas’ injured left ankle and advised him to undergo surgery to repair ligament damage in the joint.

Thomas, though, wanted a second opinion, a common step in such high-profile cases. The second doctor suggested a conservative approach that would allow the injury to heal on its own through rehab and therapy.

In March, Thomas elected to take the conservative approach and bypass surgery, a decision the Saints supported. A rehabilitation plan was collectively agreed upon, and Thomas was given progressive benchmarks to hit over the next three months of his recovery while training at his offseason home in California.

This is where things inexplicably went awry.

For unknown reasons, Thomas fell out of communication with the Saints. He did not return multiple calls over the next three months. Then-Saints trainer Beau Lowery, wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson and head coach Sean Payton all tried to reach Thomas. None of their calls were taken or returned.

When Thomas returned to the team in June, it was discovered that his ankle was still not right, and he was forced to undergo surgery to repair the damaged ligaments in the joint. The 10-to-12-week rehabilitation is expected to sideline him for the start of the regular season.

Wow. Talk about a truth bomb. Because of Thomas's stubbornness, the Saints had to go out and strengthen their receiving unit, signing Chris Hogan then moving Ty Montgomery from running back to a wideout. That move resulted in New Orleans bringing in DeVonta Freeman to replace Montgomery in the Saints backfield.

As you can see, Thomas created a lot of problems with his standoff during the offseason. If he would've simply kept in touch with the organization, the receiver could be suiting up for Week 1. Instead, Sean Payton will be without his best wideout to begin the 2021 campaign.

Wild.