The New Orleans Saints added a lot of new pieces to their offense through free agency and the NFL Draft, and quite a few will contribute in 2023. As good as that sounds, if the Saints want to reach their full potential, they will need a huge year from this guy.

It's been serial years since wide receiver Michael Thomas played meaningful football consistently. The expectation is for that to change going forward which is why the Saints were confident enough to rework Thomas's deal.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis spoke to reporters on Monday. Of course, Thomas was mentioned, and Loomis was asked a specific question about the former All-Pro.

The question that was posed to Loomis was if he thought that Thomas could haul in 100 passes in 2023, and he responded with pure confidence. 

"Oh, absolutely he can," Loomis said, via ESPN's Katherine Terrell.

Thomas is no stranger to that particular statistic.

After 92 receptions as a rookie, Thomas had over 100 receptions in three consecutive seasons and he led the NFL in receptions twice during that span, including a record-setting 149 catches in 2019. Unfortunately for Thomas, the injury bug kicked in right after that. 

Thomas missed nine games in 2020 with multiple ankle injuries. In July 2021, it was revealed that Thomas had undergone ankle surgery and he was placed on the PUP list. Thomas would have a setback during his rehab and ended up not playing for the entire season. 

Optimism ran wild for what Thomas would do last season but he suffered a foot injury in Week 3 that would lead to him being placed on injured reserve for the entire season. So, Thomas hasn't played consistent football in around three years which is an extremely long time. 

As far as his rehab, Loomis stated that everything is going smoothly for Thomas, and the hope is that his fortune will change from an injury standpoint. 

"He's worked so hard (at getting healthy) over the last 2-3 years and while the results haven't been good as we all hoped, it's not because of a lack of effort or desire by him, that's for sure," said Loomis.

There's no telling if Thomas will remain healthy in 2023 much less register 100 receptions. However, if he's anything close to what he used to be, and he's available, the Saints' offense will be a problem.