Matt Rhea on Saints WR Michael Thomas' injury/rehab: 'He's constantly working … to return'

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For the second consecutive season a confluence injuries has become a major talking point as things go awry for the New Orleans Saints, but one thing has changed.
This year it's Matt Rhea at the helm as the Director of Sports Science, a change that's been lauded by players and team personnel despite the continued run of bad injury luck. Longtime strength and conditioning coach Dan Dalrymple was let go during the offseason as the team revamped that staff.

So what is the culprit to continued injury issues like those that have plagued Michael Thomas yet again? Rhea joined Mike Hoss and Bobby Hebert on WWL this week to talk about that subject and more.

"Without really diving into this particular injuries or people, I will say this on Mike: He works his tail off. The guy has worked hard in his rehab. He does extra work. He's constantly working on the things that he needs to work on to get better and to return. And so I think there's a lot of things that go into different injuries and different situations.
"And it's probably frustrating for fans when you don't have all the information and you don't see all of the factors that are involved that sometimes it becomes, you know, the frustration can be come something that boils up because of a lack of that information.

"Our guys work hard. Our staff works hard. Everyone, I think, they're doing everything they possibly can to limit the risk of injury, minimize the severity of an injury if it's going to happen, get them back as fast as possible, that's healthy and appropriate for return to play, and then to stay on the field and be healthy throughout it. There's some really good people involved in this and then players that, well, I'll tell you what, I really enjoyed coming here and seeing the buy-in from the players and the excitement from the players to train, to do things we're asking them to do, or not do things we're asking them not to do. I've been very impressed with and I think that's something that often gets overlooked or not not addressed enough with the fan base that these guys, these guys are working hard. They want to be healthy. They want to perform at their best. They want to win. That's why they do it, and I really appreciate their efforts in that regard."

Rhea joined the Saints prior to the 2022 season after spending the past two at the University of Alabama as the director of sport science for the Crimson Tide.