Ya Know, I'm Really Starting To Believe That You Can't Guard Mike

Michael Thomas vs Marshon Lattimore on Saturday pic.twitter.com/LCoQEnslbF

— Amos Morale III (@Amos_MoraleIII) July 28, 2018

Michael Thomas vs Marshon Lattimore again pic.twitter.com/bCd3gKLCed

— Amos Morale III (@Amos_MoraleIII) July 28, 2018

Michael Thomas □ pic.twitter.com/UHr6WS1zG5

— Amos Morale III (@Amos_MoraleIII) July 29, 2018

I suppose the disclaimer here should be that these one-on-one drills that cast a defensive back away to an island that's lonelier than one inhabited by nothing more than a man and his volleyball are extremely friendly to the wide receiver, as every cornerback's best friend (a pass rush) never gets the invite. It is actually impossible to say whether or not these routes would have enough time to develop if not for the lack of urgency on the part of a quarterback whose got no shortage of Mississippi's at his disposal.

Keeping that in mind, Michael Thomas' dominance is still noteworthy. Every person who is entranced by the finer points of secondary play speaks of Marshon Lattimore's hips as if they are attached to the ass of Shakira, and his fellow Ohio State alum had them caught up in a web of their own lies quicker than someone hiding a mistress in their closet. There is a limit on the amount of conclusions that can be drawn from the most finesse drill run during a camp that's mostly meant as a physical and mental test of its participants' will, but one obvious takeaway is that Michael Thomas is prepared to ace it despite having no idea what the word 'finesse' even means.  

I suppose the following isn't news, as his dedication to his craft has been on full display since he was drafted, but #13's mastery of deliberateness, deception, and slap-boxing appear more and more ninja-esque with each passing summer. I can't speak for Ken Crawley, but one of the better #2 corners in the entire league must have felt like he was trying to blanket Jet Li as he was left grasping at air with the imprint of a grown man's hand in the swell of his back.

Given his statistical dominance during the first two seasons of his career, it was already safe to assume that it's very, very difficult to guard Mike. That said, the start of training camp has given Saints' fans no reason to believe that the theory behind 3rd year wide receivers won't hold true, and if it does then putting the shackles on a player who is still criminally underrated in some circles might actually be an impossible task for one man to take on.