Pierre Thomas' Days with Saints Numbered?

What is up with the Saints and Pierre Thomas? There is obviously more than meets the eye with this story.

A week or so ago, Jay Glazer talked about how Thomas was in Coach Payton's doghouse and could be inactive, even when he comes back from his injury. Coach Payton then had to address the issue, but never really said anything. He said that everyone is frustrated at the amount of time the injury is taking to heal and both sides said that they are on the same page.

Thomas has a high ankle sprain and the injury keeps lingering. The Saints are tight with injury news and when this first occurred it seemed it wouldn't take long to heal, but that could just be the Saints way of downplaying injuries.

But now the frustration has reached a new level and a new report says Thomas was almost traded to the Patriots for a corner back. So what does this mean in the short- and long-run? Thomas may come back after the Saints bye week, which means he'd return against Seattle on Nov. 21. That's also the target date for Reggie Bush's return. Thomas is a valuable member of the Saints, but he's not irreplaceable. I think the team really likes Chris Ivory and I could envision them with a Ivory/Bush RB tandem next year.

Thomas has been trying to get a long-term contact, paying starting RB money, but he's a platoon guy in NOLA. The Saints aren't going to break the bank on him and he needed a huge year to get the deal he wanted. Now, he's missed most of the season and his replacement may already be in place.

With all these reports on Thomas being on the outs and almost being traded, his days as a Saint are likely numbered. Where there's smoke, there's fire.