Saints Release Michael Thomas

On March 13, 2024, reporting indicated the New Orleans Saints followed through on plans to release veteran wide receiver Michael Thomas, officially designating him as a post‑June‑1 release with a failed‑physical designation [7]. The ProFootballRumors report documented the roster move; publicly available team transaction records reflect Thomas was no longer on the Saints' roster at the start of the 2024 league year [7]. Context: Thomas and Derek Carr had overlapped as teammates during the 2023 season after Carr signed with the Saints on March 6, 2023; Thomas's release on March 13, 2024 ended their formal team relationship and altered channels for dispute resolution between them [9][7]. Media coverage of Thomas's later online criticisms referenced his change in roster status as relevant background because a released player is more likely to air grievances publicly on social media rather than within team meetings [7][6].

The March 13, 2024 release matters to the broader Thomas–Carr dispute because it converted Thomas from a teammate with internal access to an external critic with full ability to post publicly. That roster change removed formal mechanisms for internal discussion and made later public posts—such as Thomas's Nov. 3, 2024 X rant—more consequential because they came from a former teammate rather than someone still on the roster [7][2]. It is a documented turning point in the relationship's context, even if it did not itself contain public invective.

After being designated a post‑June‑1 release (failed physical) on March 13, 2024, Michael Thomas remained a free agent; in the months that followed he made public social‑media comments that criticized Derek Carr's ball placement (Jan. 29, 2024 had already occurred), and those comments were amplified after Thomas's November 3, 2024 X thread that explicitly attacked Carr following Chris Olave's concussion [2][8]. The roster move meant any reconciliation would have to occur off‑platform or through public statements rather than in team meetings [7][2].