The roster of the New Orleans Saints is packed tightly with some big-name star power. Not only does Drew Brees plays quarterback for them, but he gets to throw passes to Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey and the second overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, Reggie Bush...
Pierre Thomas may not have the name recognition that these guys have, but, by year’s end, his contributions may end up to be as important to the team’s success as any of them.
The 5'11, 215 lbs. Chicago native didn’t enter the league with any of the fanfare that either Bush or Shockey did. In fact, he wasn’t even drafted. The Saints brought him into training camp in the summer of 2007, intending to use him for practice fodder and then cut him afterwards. The team already had Bush and the still viable Deuce McAllister on the roster and had traded up to draft Ohio State’s Antonio Pittman that past April, so there wasn’t much need for a guy like Thomas (who finished his college career with 2,312 rushing yards.)
Despite the odds of sticking, Thomas impressed the team so much that they kept him instead of Pittman. He hardly saw any action during that first year, but ended making an indelible impression in a Week 17 loss to Chicago. With both McAllister and Bush sidelined by injury, Thomas showed the football world that he possessed some serious talent, gaining 226 total yards and hauling in 12 passes.
2008 began much the same way for him: Stuck behind McAllister and Bush. Through the first nine games of the season, Thomas carried the ball just 36 times for 130 yards and three touchdowns. It appeared as though he wouldn’t be considered anything more than an occasional goal line vulture. However, Fate leant a hand in the form of injuries to both Bush and McAllister and Thomas took full advantage. He went on to average 83 rushing yards per game and scored nine total touchdowns over the next five contests. Once again, he had proven his worth to the team and McAllister was released this past February.
He’ll now share the duties with Bush and that could mean a whole lot of fantasy goodness for some lucky owner.
While it’s true that the Saints throw the ball a ton (they led the league last season and haven’t been lower than fifth in passing attempts since 2005), that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t welcome a reliable running game to make them even more dangerous offensively. The main problem is that Bush, exciting as he is, has never shown that he can withstand the pounding that being a featured running back calls for. He has only reached 157 carries in a season and has missed 10 games over the past two years.
That’s where Thomas comes in. He runs with even more power than his frame suggests, something that helped him post 4.8 yards per carry last season. He also has a good set of hands, an important asset in the pass-happy New Orleans offense. Even better, there’s no one behind him on the depth chart that poses a serious threat to his workload and, should Bush succumb to injury once again, Thomas would be in line for a major role.
Of course, there are legitimate questions about whether Thomas himself can handle the job of being the featured runner as, like Bush, he hasn’t conclusively proven anything, either. Also, even though he’ll benefit from the Saints’ powerful passing game keeping opponents from loading up to stop him, he still won’t carry the ball 20 or more times a game on any sort of a regular basis. That puts him at a disadvantage in terms of being considered a top fantasy rusher.
All in all, though, he is a good running back to target if you intend on picking an elite wide receiver and a quarterback with your first couple of picks. He should still be available in the third/fourth round (depending on league size) and should prove especially valuable in PPR leagues.
Like this article? Future Forecast Archives.