Saying Goodbye to Pierre Thomas

I will have a hard time topping what Reid Gilbert had to say about Pierre Thomas on Saints Win. I’m not nearly eloquent or well spoken enough to express what PT meant to the Saints, the city of New Orleans etc. But being a Saints blog I’m still going to say my part because the man deserves it. When I think about the all time greats in Saints history, Thomas has his place among the immortals. Last offseason in July I compiled a list of the 101 best Saints of all time, and Pierre Thomas was placed at 32.

My write up on Thomas at the time prior to the 2014 season was the following:

He may not be the fastest or have the best stats, but Pierre Thomas has been so solid for so long it’s impossible to keep him off this list. In fact, he deserves to be this high on it. He could have been a #1 back for someone but he’s always accepted his platoon role with the Saints and carried it out to perfection. He’s 4th in team history in rushing yards, 4th in yards per carry (minimum 200 carries), and 5th in rushing touchdowns. He’s also 9th in career receptions (!) and should get up to 6th by the end of this season. He did rush for 793 yards in 2009, his best season, and he caught a career high 77 passes last season. He’s also one of the best blockers in pass protection as a halfback in team history.

Since the write up, Thomas has indeed moved up to 6th all time in team receptions. And while I had him listed as the 32nd best Saint ever, Pro Football Reference uses their “Approximate Value” rating system to measure him as the 41st best Saints of all time. If you want to see Pierre put his finest moment into perspective, this is a much watch interview:

As the interview touches on, the road traveled for Pierre Thomas to get to that moment was beyond unlikely. He was an undrafted rookie out of Illinois who split time his senior season as a runner with Rashard Mendenhall. That offseason, the Saints traded up in the 4th round to draft Antonio Pittman from Ohio State. In addition to Pittman, the Saints carried Reggie Bush, Deuce McAllister and Aaron Stecker on the roster. The odds of Thomas making the team were slim to none coming in. But the Saints cut the high investment draft pick (Pittman) in favor of keeping Thomas. 8 years later, Thomas’s career as a Saint comes to a close. At least for now. The reason I say that is I can’t envision any scenario where Thomas doesn’t retire as a Saint.

Thomas was the first Saint to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl, a distinction that no one will ever be able to take away:

Of course his score was on a screen pass, his trademark play.

But beyond the scores, the stats, the memorable tackles he broke when the first guy was never capable of bringing him down, and the wins – Pierre Thomas was above all that. He was a great teammate, a great leader, a great spokesman and a true professional. If the Saints had more guys like Pierre Thomas on their roster they would have won the big game 10 times over.

Goodbye for now to a man that will remain a Who Dat forever. Very seldom does it hurt this much when fans bid farewell to one of our players. Anyone that ever wears #23 will have immense shoes to fill.