Michael Thomas has reached agreement with the New Orleans Saints on a $100 million extension that includes $61 million guaranteed and makes him the NFL's highest-paid wide receiver, league sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Wednesday.

Thomas had been set to make $1.148 million this season in the final year of his rookie contract. He did not report for the start of Saints training camp as he sought a new deal.

The Saints have never paid a skill-position player more than $10 million per year, which was the size of tight end Jimmy Graham's extension before he was traded away in 2015. But Thomas, who was drafted in the second round out of Ohio State in 2016, has played a bigger role in New Orleans' offense than any skill-position player to come before him in the Payton-Drew Brees era.

Last season, Thomas set franchise records with 125 catches and 1,405 yards while catching nine touchdown passes. His catch rate of 84.5% in 2018 was the highest of any NFL receiver since at least 2001, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Thomas' 321 career catches are the most in NFL history by a receiver in his first three seasons.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- For the past five years, the Golden State Warriors have lived by one mantra: "Strength in Numbers." Yes, they had more talent at the top than any other team in the NBA, but at critical moments throughout their five consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, they knew they could count on their deep, veteran-laden bench to support their superstars.

But the Warriors underwent a dramatic transformation this summer. Gone were not only All-NBA-level starters Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins, but also key reserves Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. The Warriors' newfound underdog status meant they were no longer a destination for veterans willing to take a pay cut to chase a near-guaranteed ring. That meant replacing their vaunted depth with rookies and young, unproven players, leaving them with a new mantra: "Faith in Youngsters."

"We went from one of the oldest teams in the league to one of the youngest," Warriors assistant general manager Kirk Lacob said. "All of a sudden you look at it and Steph [Curry] is the oldest player on the whole team. Klay [Thompson] and Draymond [Green] are the elder statesmen. I think Alfonzo McKinnie (26) may be our fourth-oldest player by age. He's only had a couple years of NBA experience."

McKinnie is actually the fifth-oldest Warrior, behind Golden State's star trio and the recently added Alec Burks, but Lacob isn't overselling the shift in the Warriors' roster structure. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Warriors' average age in the 2018-19 season was 28.4, ranking third oldest in the NBA. Now they have the eighth-youngest roster.

The change in experience was borne out of necessity. Because Durant's decision to go to the Brooklyn Nets led to the sign-and-trade deal for 23-year-old Nets guard D'Angelo Russell, Lacob, GM Bob Myers and the rest of the Warriors' front office had to clear out Iguodala and Livingston, veteran stalwarts on all five Finals teams, to get under the CBA-mandated hard cap for teams who execute sign-and-trade deals.

Once the dust settled, the Warriors' roster looked like a shell of its once veteran-influenced self. The group has eight new players, including three rookies in Jordan Poole, Eric Paschall and Alen Smailagic who will be fighting for playing time in training camp. You have to go back to 2013-14, the last season before Steve Kerr arrived as Warriors coach, to find a Golden State roster with three rookies on it.

During their championship run, the Warriors clearly did not prioritize any kind of youth movement. From 2013 to 2018, Golden State made a total of three picks in the NBA draft: Kevon Looney in 2015, Damian Jones in 2016 and Jacob Evans in 2018. They also purchased the second-round picks used to acquire Patrick McCaw and Jordan Bell. However, only Looney and Evans are still on the team.

"The draft is tricky because it's not just about how talented the player is -- it's about where are they going, what life cycle is that team on," Lacob said.

Lacob cited Bell and McCaw in particular as players who excelled in limited roles as rookies but struggled in their second seasons when they failed to receive an expanded role. When a team's goal is winning titles, there's little margin for the kinds of errors that young players make.

"I had a conversation with Draymond about this right after our season. He said, 'I would not be the player I was today if I had come onto this Warriors team three years ago,'" Lacob said. "He's like 'When I got here, we were a completely different team. I was given a chance, and I failed a lot.' And he's like, 'I sucked my first year. My second year I was OK. My third year I got an opportunity. That's hard for young guys who aren't being given that opportunity because we got guys who have been here a long time and have established roles. There's just no opportunity for growth.'"

To Green's point, Evans, who was selected with the 28th overall pick a year ago, played in only 30 games as a rookie, and a total of 18 minutes in the Warriors' postseason run. And while they don't expect him to immediately step in this season and replace the production of the since departed backup point guard Livingston, they do believe he can eventually develop in that kind of role.

"Before, we wouldn't put a player into a new role, like a Jacob Evans," Lacob said. "Maybe he becomes a point guard, maybe he doesn't, but the ability to go every single day and work on that and then [have] the freedom to try that in a game gives you a chance to grow."

"There just wasn't time, and for a lot of those players it didn't make sense," Lacob added. "Now we have an opportunity. ... It's really about spreading these guys' wings and letting them fly a little bit and not being as worried about the day-to-day results. You kind of got to fail to succeed in the NBA. Trial by fire. And we finally have a chance to do that."

To help do that, Kerr has reshuffled his coaching staff, elevating Chris DeMarco into the lead player development position. Joining him will be Aaron Miles, who served as the head coach of the Warriors G League team in Santa Cruz. There, he worked closely with Smailagic, who played in the G League as an 18-year-old before being drafted in the second round in June.

"For Steve, it will be a lot of teaching," Myers said. "Before, he had a lot of guys that had operated in his system. But it will be teaching, and I think he'll embrace that too and a lot of learning, a lot of youth. We're going to have more highs and lows probably as far as winning and losing than we've had before. But he seems to be invigorated."

Myers is hopeful Kerr's upcoming term on the USA basketball staff alongside his longtime friend and confidante Gregg Popovich will not only give the Warriors coach a renewed sense of energy but an opportunity to learn from Popovich. The two future Hall of Fame coaches will be able to share their wisdom during this summer's World Cup in China and next summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo, and as the Warriors continue a collective metamorphosis, the group is hopeful that Kerr will find a way to emulate the model that has made the Spurs so successful.

"One thing Popovich is so great at is, he's been so successful at changing his style," Myers said. "You've seen the Spurs evolve and play a certain way and then shift with their personnel."

The Spurs have been held up throughout the league as the prime example of what the Warriors are trying to do: develop and integrate new, young players while maintaining a proven level of success. One of the reasons for San Antonio's sustained success is that the team has consistently and repeatedly drafted well at the back end of the first and second rounds. Dejounte Murray, taken with the 29th pick in 2016, is already an all-defensive team selection, and when he missed last season because of an injury, he was ably replaced by Derrick White, the 29th pick in 2017.

Meanwhile, Damian Jones, who was taken one pick after Murray in 2016, played in only 49 games in three seasons in Oakland, and was traded to the Atlanta Hawks earlier this month.

"We have immense respect for what the Spurs have done and have been able to outlast everyone and be great for 20 years, and so there's certainly very strong elements," Lacob said. "I think their player-development pipeline is incredible. You look at all the young players and a lot of them [are] later draft picks, which are, percentage-wise, statistically hard to hit on. They do a really good job of allowing people to become NBA players and that is extremely valuable."

The Warriors did hit on Looney, the No. 30 pick in the 2015 draft. His role has increased each season he has been in the league -- going from 4.2 minutes per game in five games as a rookie to 18.5 minutes in 80 games last season -- and during the flurry of moves the team made after Durant's departure, they prioritized re-signing him to a three-year, $15 million deal. The team is hopeful it can find similar success with its trio of rookies this season.

Myers set the tone for the three players at their introductory news conference last month, telling them they "haven't done anything yet." But he also reminded them that if they put in the work, they can be successful.

For Poole, who played against Looney in high school in the Milwaukee area, it was a reminder of the type of team he's joining.

"It's a really good culture," Poole said. "Eric came from Villanova, I came from Michigan, so we're really familiar with good culture. I was going through a couple emails and it's 'family, family, family.' Of course, talent is going to take you a long way on the court, but being able to have the chemistry on and off the court with so many great guys ... it's amazing."

The good news for the Warriors is that they still have Curry, Thompson and Green to be the focal points of that culture (although Thompson probably will be out most of next season as he heals from an ACL injury). The trio of players takes a great deal of pride in what they have accomplished together, but the organization knows that it's time for each of the three to take on more leadership responsibility this season.

"It's funny that they're the elder statesmen," Lacob said. "They've been the center of attention for five years on the court, but we've had these great, great vets that helped them grow as people and as players in Shaun [Livingston] and Andre [Iguodala] and David West and Zaza [Pachulia], all these sorts of guys over the years. And they're gone, but this is an opportunity for those guys to step into that role.

"Because at some point in five years or six years they're going to be potentially Shaun and Andre. Maybe there's a new slew of young guys that are playing 36 minutes and these guys are being more careful about their minutes and saving themselves up a little bit and having this old, sage advice -- but it's a great opportunity for those guys. You really don't know what a person's going to end up like until you put them through something like this, so we're going to learn a lot about everybody."

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Guest – Ray Evernham

Ralph Sheheen chats with 2018 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee and former NASCAR crew chief, Ray Evernham. After winning three NASCAR Cup Series championships with driver Jeff Gordon, Evernham went on to own his own NASCAR race team. Today, he consults for Hendrick Motorsports as well as restores and builds collector cars and race cars.

Catch this week’s full episode on SPEEDSPORT.com or download the podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify or iHeart Radio.

Gareth Bale was not fit to travel with Real Madrid for their preseason friendly against Tottenham Hotspur in Munich, manager Zinedine Zidane has said.

Wales international Bale on Tuesday missed the Audi Cup match, which Spurs won 1-0, following the collapse of his proposed move to China.

British media reported Real's board refused to approve Bale's departure, with Jiangsu Suning wanting to acquire the 30-year-old on a free transfer.

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"He didn't travel because he wasn't fit," Zidane told reporters after the match at Allianz Arena.

"After speaking with the doctors, the best thing was for him to stay in Madrid. He stayed back and is training there. It was a joint decision between the player, medical staff and the coach."

Bale, who has won four Champions League titles since joining Madrid from Tottenham in 2013, appears to be out of favour at the Spanish club after Zidane said last week he was "very close to leaving."

With a little over a week of the close season transfer window remaining, Spurs have only signed two players -- one of them, Jack Clarke, immediately returning to the Championship side Leeds on loan.

Mauricio Pochettino, who has previously distanced himself from the club's underwhelming business, said his job title should be changed from manager to coach as he has no influence over transfers.

"I am not in charge and I know nothing about the situation of my players," the Argentine said.

"The club need to change my [job] title and description, no? My job now is to coach the team. It's not a question for me, it's a question for the club and maybe they need to change my title."

Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix has been dubbed by many the "new Cristiano Ronaldo" and he told ESPN he wants to emulate his Portugal teammate.

Felix featured alongside Ronaldo as Portugal won the Nations League this summer, before sealing a €126 million move to Atletico.

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"Cristiano Ronaldo has won five Ballon d'Or trophies and this is the dream of every player," he said in an exclusive interview with ESPN. "Obviously I would like to be like Cristiano."

There was a lot of interest in Felix this summer but he decided to join Atletico due to their record of producing great strikers.

Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan, Fernando Torres and Radamel Falcao have all enjoyed impressive spells in the Spanish capital and Felix said he wants to do the same.

"I saw the strikers that Atletico had and they were great players, great strikers," he added. "I want to be one more and this is why I choose to come here."

Felix has already impressed after scoring one goal and assisting two more in Atletico's 7-3 victory over rivals Real Madrid in the International Champions Cup.

Meanwhile, fellow summer signing Kieran Trippier has told ESPN he intends to conduct an interview in Spanish within the next two months.

"My priority is to speak Spanish," he said. "I want to be involved with the players and the coach to understand more.

"I've got a teacher in Madrid and it's five days a week for two hours a day so maybe in a month or two, we can have this interview speaking Spanish."

Trippier, 28, joined the Spanish club from Tottenham for around €25m and said he has always wanted to test himself abroad.

"There were a few clubs interested in me but when Atletico Madrid came in for me, it was a great experience to play out in Spain in La Liga," he added. "It's something that I've always wanted to do, to play abroad and I'm absolutely delighted to be here."

Atletico will play against the MLS All-Stars in Orlando on Wednesday in their final match of their U.S. preseason tour.

Mauricio Pochettino has distanced himself from Tottenham's lack of transfer activity, suggesting that his title may need to be changed from manager to head coach.

So far this summer, Tottenham have broken their transfer record to sign Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon, while they have also signed young winger Jack Clarke from Leeds United, where he will return on loan for the coming season.

Having gone the two previous transfer windows without a single signing, a frustrated Pochettino believes he should not be the one held responsible for the lack of arrivals at White Hart Lane.

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"I am not in charge and I know nothing about the situation of my players," Pochettino said after Tottenham's 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the Audi Cup.

"I am only coaching them and trying to get the best from them. Sell, buy players, sign contract, not sign contract -- I think it is not in my hands, it's in the club's hands and [chairman] Daniel Levy.

"Maybe the club need to change my title and description. My job now is to coach the team. Of course I am the boss deciding the strategy to play, training, in my area, but in another area I don't know. Today, I feel like I am the coach."

The Argentine previously saw his job title changed from head coach to manager in 2016 after signing a new contract with the club.

The north London side have also struggled to shift unwanted players this summer. Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Danny Rose were among those left out of the club's tour of Asia "to explore prospective opportunities with other clubs" but both are still on Tottenham's books.

When asked about Rose's future with the club, Pochettino again insisted it had nothing to do with him.

"I think it's not in my hands," Pochettino added. "Only I describe the situation of what happens and I think it's important for the players and people to know that I am going to be, like I told you before, that I will be happy with the squad that the club are going to provide to me.

"Of course we will give our best. My mood is always the same and my emotional balance is always similar. I am emotional, but I am a person like everyone that thinks a lot.

"Only I describe the situation to make clear that if you have some questions that I am not the person that is going to answer what you want."

The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

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It's that time of year again, with the Orlando City Stadium set to play host to the glitzy 2019 MLS All-Star game on Wednesday evening.

This year's guest opponents are Atletico Madrid, who will take on the best that MLS has to offer hoping to emulate the narrow victory that Juventus managed to pull off in last season's fixture.

To mark the occasion, we thought we'd piece together two fantasy XIs, one consisting of Premier League all-stars and one from the "Rest of Europe" and pit them against each other.

You may assume that the PL XI would be dominated by Man City and Liverpool players, but we've intentionally included names from an array of clubs to mix things up a bit.

Premier League

David De Gea (Manchester United) - Lightning reactions and incredible agility, all honed by having to play behind Phil Jones for the last eight years.

Hector Bellerin (Arsenal) - Assuming he's back and fully fit, Bellerin is one of the most mobile full-backs in the world.

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) - A Champions League winner and a rock solid, calm and assured presence in any back four.

Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City) - One of the most improved defenders in the Premier League, a goal threat from set pieces and an instrumental part of Man City's title charge.

Andrew Robertson (Liverpool) - The Flying Scotsman is the scourge of opposing right-backs the world over. Also delivers a mean cross from just about anywhere on the left flank.

N'Golo Kante (Chelsea) - Played in his natural defensive midfield position, there are none better in the world.

Paul Pogba (Manchester United) - Certainly has his critics, but on his day Pogba is capable of turning the tide of a match on his own. You don't win World Cups by accident.

Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) - Contributed 25 goals to the Man City cause last season while firmly staking his claim as one of Pep Guardiola's go-to men.

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - The hardworking, free-scoring Egyptian has amassed 71 goals in 104 appearances since joining Liverpool in June 2017.

Harry Kane (Tottenham) - Tottenham and England's Mr. Reliable. Nothing too flashy, just a steady, unrelenting stream of goals.

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) - Just the 231 goals and four Premier League titles in 338 appearances for Man City should be just enough to book Aguero a slot in the XI.

Rest of Europe

Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) - Who better to tend the net than the goalkeeper who has conceded the fewest amount of goals and kept the most amount of clean sheets in La Liga for the fourth season running?

Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) - The versatile young defender has quickly been recognised as Bayern's spiritual successor to Philipp Lahm -- and compliments don't come much bigger than that.

Gerard Pique (Barcelona) - Stalwart of the Barcelona defence for many years, the Catalan centre-half knows what it takes to win at the highest level.

Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) - Another member of the "been there, seen it, done it" club, Ramos has the trophy-laden CV to prove it.

David Alaba (Bayern Munich) - Still only 27 years old despite seemingly having been around for ages, Alaba remains one of the best, most sought-after left-backs in the world.

Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) - Seasoned master of the midfield dark arts. Nobody does what Busquets does better than he does.

Luka Modric (Real Madrid) - It's always nice to have a Ballon d'Or winner pulling strings in the engine room.

Neymar (PSG) - Injury problems may have knocked him off the boil of late, but the Brazilian is still a flamboyant force to be reckoned with.

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - It'd be slightly remiss of us to leave the best player on the face of the planet out of the team, wouldn't it?

Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) - Ronaldo's entirely inevitable inclusion here brings the total number of Ballon d'Ors in the team up to an impressively hefty 11.

Kylian Mbappe (PSG) - A nailed-on superstar in the making, Mbappe already has the acceleration, skill and goal-scoring technique to terrify even the most experienced defenders.

But which team would win?

We have no idea, but we certainly want to be in stands watching on if the game ever takes place!

Australia have traded off the breakup of the fast bowling "big three" by selling Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood the idea that spreading the workload among more pacemen will extend their careers, with the captain Tim Paine declaring his team have been "way too reliant" on them.

James Pattinson is guaranteed to play in the opening Ashes Test at Edgbaston and Peter Siddle is also strongly in contention, meaning Starc looks certain to miss out as he continues his transition from ODI lines and lengths to the demands of Test matches, while Hazlewood is also 50/50. Only Cummins is safe in the team of the three bowlers who dominated England in Australia in 2017-18.

Paine admitted that Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins needed to be convinced of the merits of not simply choosing them to play together on the basis they are the three senior bowlers, all with lofty and thus lucrative positions on the Cricket Australia contract list. Added to the unhappy recent history of Australia struggling to adapt to English conditions, Paine said that the team needed to be more selective in how they used the three men who have effectively been joint spearheads of the attack since 2015.

"We've spoken about it to the bowlers. As JL [the coach Justin Langer] said, we're going to pick the team we think is going to win each Test match given the conditions we get when we arrive at those venues and the bowlers are across that," Paine said. "I think that's a great thing for our team - to have a really strong mix of fast bowlers who can all play in different conditions. But as we've said to the fast bowlers, it's actually a great thing for them as well because we can now prolong their careers for a few years.

"The last two or three years, we've been way too reliant on Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood - they've played a lot of Tests and subsequently picked up lots of niggly injuries along the way. It's a positive for all those guys. Another one is Peter Siddle, he can get another 12 months of Test cricket if we keep picking guys for the conditions. That's the way we've sold it to them. It's a great thing for the team but it's also a great thing for them individually."

While Cummins and Hazlewood have both spoken supportively in public of the move, nothing has been heard yet from Starc, who has been working assiduously to move from World Cup to Ashes mode. Should Australia utilise their bowling resources more broadly and effectively, the outcome will be critical not only to the Ashes, but how the team fares in the inaugural Test World Championship over the next two years. Paine added that Starc and Pattinson were seen as similarly hostile, attacking options, with holding bowlers required in support.

"At the moment we probably are looking at them in a similar role and we want to make sure we get that combination right and the bowlers we pick are complementing each other," he said. "If conditions are right for both of those two, we think to play together they certainly will. It's not something we've said 'we're only playing him [or] we're only playing him'. We're just making sure we get the right combination and have all bases covered."

The brown-tinged Edgbaston pitch was something of a surprise to Paine at first glance, but he reasoned that it would still provide assistance to seamers, aided by the overhead conditions that will intersperse rain with cloud cover for the majority of the Test match if forecasts prove accurate. To that end, Paine suggested that Australia's months of work on combating the moving ball with the bat would pay dividends.

"The pitch looked a bit different. I must admit I was expecting a bit of a green top - it's certainly a different colour than I expected but there is a thick covering of grass on it," Paine said. "Given there's been a lot of rain, and the overcast here, I think the Dukes ball is going to swing around and it looks like, if anything, there might be a bit more pace in it than I was expecting, which again might suit us.

"There's no doubt when the ball moves it's difficult for even the very best of batsmen. It's about being really clear on what you're actually trying to achieve and the plan you've got as a batter. And it's having the courage to walk out into the middle, under pressure in a Test match, and stick to that or execute it. We haven't been reinventing the wheel on batting, we've just been trying to be really clear in exactly how we want to play and now it's about sticking to that under pressure."

At least some of that pressure will be in the form of concerted booing from English crowds, something that the England batsman Joe Denly did not exactly discourage on Tuesday. However Paine said that after plenty of thought, the Australians would do their best to channel the noise and energy radiating off the crowd into a positive force, no matter what is hurled from the Eric Hollies Stand and elsewhere.

"We know what's coming, it's part and parcel. We need to be strong enough to handle it." Tim Paine on how the English fans will react to Australia's players

"We've touched on it, of course we've touched on it. We know what to expect here in England and we're looking to embrace it," Paine said. "We think it's part of international cricket in England and it's something if we embrace you can have great memories. We're talking about it that way, trying to use it as energy and use it in a positive manner. We know what's coming, it's part and parcel. We need to be strong enough to handle it.

"We've spoken about that, backing each other up and being a really tight group which is no different to anywhere else but here it can be more important on long tours. Regardless of where it is, obviously we want to get off to a good start in the Ashes. It's really important that you get some momentum early in a big series like this. We haven't spoken about whether Edgbaston is a fortress for them, because that's irrelevant. It's about being clear on what we want to do, both individually and as a team.

"If we can be really clear, come out and execute well, it doesn't matter if we play at Edgbaston or on the moon, we think our best cricket is good enough."

One cricketer conspicuous by his absence from the pre-series noise has been Nathan Lyon, who spoke brutishly of "ending a few careers" before the previous Ashes series, even as he backed it up by dominating England with his off breaks. "Gazza's probably the best spin bowler in the world and he's proven that now over a long period of time," Paine said.

"No doubt he has flown under the radar a little bit, probably because he didn't play much in the World Cup. I'm sure he's being spoken about quite a lot in their change room and they'll be coming up with plans on how to try and counter Nathan. As we've seen the last three or four years in any conditions, he's a real handful and he's going to be a huge asset for us in this series."