2023 Fantasy Football Player Profile: Michael Thomas could be a steal without injuries

Michael Thomas will hopefully stay healthy: Thomas has only played in 10 games over the last three seasons after back-to-back seasons as a first-team AP All-Pro.
He faces competition for targets from Chris Olave: The New Orleans Saints have much better wide receivers on the roster now compared to the last time Thomas played a full season.
Derek Carr and Thomas can become best friends: Carr has played best in his career on the routes that Thomas typically catches passes from.

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The fantasy football outlook series takes an in-depth look at a single player’s fantasy outlook for the 2023 season.

Thomas has been one of the top wide receivers in the NFL when healthy.

Thomas ranks top-three over the last five seasons in targets (9.6), receptions (7.9), yards (89.0) and PPR points (19.6) per game among wide receivers.
The one basic statistic where he wasn’t elite is touchdowns, as he's recorded 0.5 receiving touchdowns per game, which was still tied for 12th out of 139 wide receivers with at least 40 games.
Thomas' big problem is most of those accomplishments occurred closer to five years ago than the present day.
Thomas dealt with a high-ankle sprain and hamstring injuries throughout 2020 and a setback in his rehab for his ankle injury cost him all of 2021.
He played the first three games of 2022 before suffering a pedal toe dislocation, which cost him the rest of the season.
He still played well in those games, averaging 17.0 receiving PPR points per game, which ranked ninth-most on the small sample size.
Thomas was able to participate in minicamps and is expected to be 100% during training camp, so his past injuries aren’t expected to impact him.
He is now over the age of 30, and after not playing much in the last few seasons, it’s certainly possible Thomas isn’t able to play as well as he once did.