Payton: Saints ace Thomas should have had surgery sooner

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton did not attempt to hide his frustration with Michael Thomas' absence from the start of training camp. 

The Saints' star wide receiver had surgery last month to repair an ankle injury that limited him throughout the 2020 season. 

General manager Mickey Loomis told reporters at a pre-camp news conference that the decision was taken to treat Thomas' injury "conservatively" in hopes that it would heal with treatment. 

Thomas participated in last month's minicamp, but the team decided afterward he needed to have surgery to return to 100 per cent. 

"It's disappointing. We'll work through it with the other players that are here," Payton said Wednesday.

"But the surgery took place, and obviously we would have liked that to have happened earlier than later. And quite honestly, it should have."

He declined to elaborate further on the timing of the procedure. 

Earlier, Loomis spoke about the team's thinking around Thomas' injury throughout the off-season. 

"We had an expectation that that would heal and he'd be fine coming into camp this year, but we get to minicamp and obviously it wasn't quite right," he said. 

"Obviously, with hindsight, we would have preferred that surgery to be earlier, in February or March, but it wasn't. It is what it is. And hopefully we'll get him back sooner rather than later."

Loomis declined to put a timeline on Thomas' potential return, and Payton indicated the team will not look for outside help during his absence. 

Thomas, 28, was the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 after making a record 149 receptions for a league-leading 1,725 yards and nine touchdowns. 

His 2020 playing time was limited by the ankle injury he suffered in last season's opening game, as he wound up appearing in just seven regular-season games and making 40 catches for 438 yards.