What It Means:

Thomas was suspended for the Saints' Week 5 win over the Los Angeles Chargers after he reportedly punched teammate Chauncey Gardner-Johnson during a fight in practice. Prior to that, Thomas was dealing with a high-ankle sprain that had kept him out since the opener. Saints head coach Sean Payton was non-committal about Thomas returning in Week 7 against the Carolina Panthers, but the stud receiver should be fully healed coming out of the bye week. Thomas' return will likely take targets away from Emmanuel Sanders and Alvin Kamara while Tre'Quan Smith could see a reduced snap share. The Panthers are allowing the seventh-fewest passing yards per game (218.8).

Thomas is the WR2 in numberFire's Week 7 fantasy rankings and our models project him for 17.2 FanDuel points. He has a salary of $8,600 and is tied for the third-best value among all receivers on our board. Per our advanced defensive metrics, the Panthers rank 7th against the pass and 24th against the run.