Category: Mickey Loomis

Opinion: Saints should take Jaguars’ example and fire their GM

With GM Trent Baalke parting ways with the Jacksonville Jaguars, maybe the New Orleans Saints should follow suit with Mickey Loomis:

Organizational dysfunction.

These two words get thrown around social media spaces like people’s lives depend on using the phrase every chance they get. But what is true organizational dysfunction? Well, we got a glimpse of it with the Jacksonville Jaguars in recent years, and they finally made the decision to move on from general manager Trent Baalke.

It starts with complacency. Complacency with being mediocre, and rather than having the ambition to be the best, focusing on just getting back to being “good” or “serviceable.” The Jacksonville Jaguars struggled mightily in finding the right coach for them, struggled to build a core around their former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence, and ultimately struggled to find a vision of what they wanted to be. Does any of this sound familiar?

While the New Orleans Saints do not have the number-one overall draft pick at quarterback, they have been running adrift for multiple seasons now after the losses of Drew Brees and Sean Payton to retirement and trade respectively. Additionally, the Dennis Allen hire was a resounding failure, and yet Loomis continues to defend him even post-firing, which certainly does not help his image, nor the image of a cohesive decision making process between him and the rest of the front office/ownership.

The roster management is one of the worst issues though. For a few years now many have called for things to be stripped down to the core, and whether or not you may agree with that assessment, the roster has not performed anywhere near expected, and has suffered significant amounts of injuries. Is this an age issue? Maybe, maybe not. Is it an unwillingness to bring in more experts to assess the situation and dive further into why soft tissue injuries are occurring at such a high rate? Yes.

Loomis has made it abundantly clear in multiple press conferences that he wants the team to remain competitive, which again, make your own assessment. But at the same time, coming off a 5-12 season, there is absolutely no sense of urgency, and you could see that from his post-season media appearance. I have no doubt that he is doing what he thinks is right, and I also understand that this may not be the easiest situation to deal with post-Brees and Payton. However, consistently trying to dig your heels in on the notion of needing to remain competitive after an atrocious season is a tough pill to swallow for fans.

On top of all of that, improving the roster has become an enormous difficulty because of the cap space. They always find a way to circumvent it which is fine to an extent, and required to at least be compliant, however it hamstrings the team each year in what free agents they are able to pursue, as they are not able to offer substantial contracts. Additionally, it forces them to make choices on who to retain, which allows players like Trey Hendrickson to walk. I personally have always been somewhat of a fan of watching it happen, but one of these years it would be so nice to not come into the offseason 50-90 million dollars in the hole, and rather have cap space to pursue players early in the process.

Then we can get to the draft picks, which sure, are not fully the responsibility of Loomis and who truly knows how much say he has in the process. So let’s for a second say its not him calling some of the shots on picks, why do you as a general manager see approximately (and I am going to be enormously generous here) eight players in the draft classes from 2018-2023 panning out, and allow the staff to remain intact that is making those calls.

  • 2018 was an absolute draft class disaster
  • Erik McCoy is the only player who is still a quality player for the Saints from 2019
  • 2020 you somehow got down to only four picks, and just one remains in Cesar Ruiz
  • 2021 you have Pete Werner and Paulson Adebo
  • 2022 you got Chris Olave, Trevor Penning, and Alontae Taylor
  • 2023 you got Bryan Bresee

Outside that, you also had guys like Kaden Elliss, Zach Baun, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson who have gone on to have solid seasons elsewhere, except that doesn’t help you. The Saints had 34 picks from the 2018 to 2023 draft class, if only eight were quality producers, that’s a 23.5% success rate. There are very few jobs where you can be right less than a quarter of the time and still have job security.

Overall, Loomis has gone from the founder of cap mythology and constructor of elite rosters to the pariah of the organization in many fans eyes in the span of about five to six years.

My opinion of the matter is this, Loomis deserves one more shot to get the coaching hire right, he has really only had one true shot at hiring a new coach post-Payton, and it was a dud no doubt, but mistakes do happen. If he is unable to hire a quality candidate this year, or worse, whiffs on the quality ones because he waited too long or could not sell them on the team, there needs to be discussions about a new general manager hire. Whether that come in the form of his firing or being moved into some other part of the executive management, it needs to be looked at if the organization continues down this path.

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Aaron Glenn telling Saints thanks-but-no-thanks should be a huge red flag

Aaron Glenn telling the Saints thanks-but-no-thanks should be a huge red flag for Mickey Loomis and the organization. Their self-perception doesn’t match their reality:

It’s bad enough that the New Orleans Saints couldn’t even get Aaron Glenn into town for an in-person interview for their head coaching job. The added detail that Glenn gave the organization a thanks-but-no-thanks before accepting the offer the New York Jets gave him should be a big red warning flag for general manager Mickey Loomis and the organization he’s built.

Glenn was in the building just a few years ago. Sentimentality wasn’t a part of this; he spent his last year as a player with the Saints, having begun it with the Jets. And his five years as a position coach under Sean Payton and Dennis Allen was insightful. When the opportunity to occupy the same desk both those men owned before him came up, Glenn considered his options and chose to pass on it.

And that’s a huge indictment of Loomis and the team. He effectively is the team. He’s the longest-tenured general manager in the NFL. He’s held his post for decades. He’s either hired everyone in the building or sat in on their interviews whether that was weeks, months, or years ago. His fingerprints are on everything, and the situation he’s made is so unappealing that Glenn would rather fight off the New York media while reporting to the mercurial Woody Johnson and his teenaged sons than come work with him.

It’s easy to see why the situation Loomis is responsible for is unappealing. The Saints have some difficult salary cap decisions to make and lack the resources to sign impactful free agents this spring. They’re effectively tied to Derek Carr for the next year or two; love him or loathe him, he’s one of six active quarterbacks who have been in the NFL for at least 11 years without winning a playoff game. Of that group (Carr, Geno Smith, Andy Dalton, Tyrod Taylor, Brian Hoyer, and Blaine Gabbert) he’s the only one playing on a contract with $100 million or more guaranteed. Smith is next-closest at $40 million.

Big changes are needed in New Orleans. Loomis has played too fast and loose with the team’s draft picks and salary cap resources for too long, and now it’s really hurting the team. Glenn choosing to try his luck on a laughingstock like the Jets is just proof of that. It’s also proof that the Saints are getting laughed at around the league, too.

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Mickey Loomis’ approach to head coaching search: ‘We’re not recruiting’

Mickey Loomis doesn’t believe the Saints need to sell themselves to candidates on why they’re an attractive landing spot: ‘We’re not recruiting’

As the New Orleans Saints begin the second stage of their head coach search with in-person interviews, it feels like an appropriate time to look at Mickey Loomis’ approach to meeting with prospective coaches.

Loomis doesn’t believe he has to sell why the Saints would be attractive to coaches, because that’s not what the interview process is about to him. Instead of saying, ‘this is what we have to offer,’ Loomis believes discussing visions and how they align is the proper way to look at interviewing coaches.

Loomis elaborated on that point: “The right thing to do is not try to sell. The right thing to do is lay out who you are, what your vision is on both sides and make sure we can have a collective vision. That’s how we’re going to be successful. It’s not going to be about selling.”

His mindset is “we’re not recruiting, we’re interviewing, and they’re interviewing us. It’s about right fit.” Not selling doesn’t equate to not answering questions. Loomis isn’t approaching this with the logo on his shirt and expecting candidates to jump.

Candidates will have things they want and questions they want answered, and Loomis, along with the rest of the people in the room, will answer those questions with full transparency. Hopefully it leads them to the right candidate for the job.

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Just 4 teams have drafted fewer players than Saints since they hired Mickey Loomis

Just four teams have drafted fewer players than the Saints since they promoted Mickey Loomis to GM. Years of trade gambles haven’t paid off:

There are only four teams that have spent fewer selections in the NFL draft than the New Orleans Saints since they promoted Mickey Loomis to general manager back in 2003.

Those teams are the Minnesota Vikings (285), Los Angeles Chargers (282), Pittsburgh Steelers (268) and the league-low Green Bay Packers (267 players drafted), according to the data from Stathead and Pro Football Reference.

You could argue that the Saints have been successful despite owning so few draft picks through Loomis’ habit of trading them away. Over that same time period under Loomis, the Saints rank 10th-best in win percentage (going 199-157, or .558). And that’s the case for all five of these teams, which rank inside top-11.

That’s not to say the few draft picks are the exact reason for that, though. It is also important to consider stable quarterback play, what the coaching staff is doing and how that may hide any potential mistakes or misfortunate. Whether it’s Sean Payton and Drew Brees, Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy or just going from Philip Rivers to Justin Herbert under center, getting the right people in the right positions (and keeping them there) has lifted each of these squads and made up for what they lacked on the depth chart.

But now Loomis doesn’t have Payton or Brees propping him up. Years of gambling on draft-day trades hasn’t paid off. His record without Payton leading the team is 49-66, a win percentage of just .426. That would be the seventh-worst win percentage in the league since 2003. If Loomis can’t get this head coach hire right, that’s going to be his legacy.

All things considered, it will be interesting to watch how the Saints make use of their opportunities in the 2025 NFL draft with a very important offseason ahead.

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Mickey Loomis on Saints coaching search: ‘We’re open to anything’

Mickey Loomis broke down coaching candidates into different categories, and said they’re open to coaches from multiple different lanes:

The New Orleans Saints are stepping into this head coaching search with an open-mind. This is likely one of the lessons the Saints front office learned from the last time they had to make a change at head coach. The move from Sean Payton to Dennis Allen was so clear that Payton gave his endorsement on his way out the door.

Mickey Loomis told reporters this week, “We’re open to anything. We talked a lot about where successful coaches come from.” Aaron Glenn, Joe Brady and soon to be Mike McCarthy highlight the list of candidates New Orleans has already interviewed or plan to sit down with.

That triumvirate all represent three different lanes. Loomis classified the lanes as buckets. That’s an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and former head coach. The only thing missing is a collegiate coach.

Once divided into these lanes into pools or buckets. Loomis says they then discussed “The success rate and the success that each pool has had.” Those conversations may have led to certain buckets being taken off the table.

So far their request list includes: Brady, Glenn, Mike Kafka, Kellen Moore, Darren Rizzi, Mike Vrabel and Anthony Weaver.

Vrabel has already been named the New England Patriots head coach, but he and McCarthy are interchangeable representations of the same bucket. There weren’t many former head coaches to pick from. The only other one would be Brian Flores.

So the Saints list consists of two defensive coordinators, three offensive coordinators, one former head coach and a special teams coordinator. There are no coaches from the college bucket, but that’s a versatile list that reflects Loomis’ statement that New Orleans is open to anything.

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Mickey Loomis views Sean Payton ties as a strength, but not a necessity

Mickey Loomis views Sean Payton ties as a strength, but not a necessity, in the ongoing New Orleans Saints head coach search:

The New Orleans Saints holding on to the Sean Payton era has been a common criticism when discussing the team’s direction in recent years, as well as their ongoing coaching search. After Payton, they hired in-house with Dennis Allen. The Saints’ favorite in this cycle is widely assumed to be Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who was on the Saints’ staff from 2015 to 2020.

When asked about the potential bias in this connection, but not Glenn specifically, Loomis told reporters on Monday that, “I don’t know that I would agree with that. I understand the connection between Sean and Dennis, but we had a lot of different staff changes, coaching changes.”

Loomis pointed to Dan Campbell and Payton as leading the Lions and Denver Broncos to two of the best turnarounds recently, commenting, “Both of those staffs are pretty well-connected to New Orleans, so I’m not sure what the criticism would be.”

In other words, he sees it as a system that works so why cut it out of our search? It’s clear Loomis views that period of time fondly, and who can blame him? The problem becomes chasing a recreation. While Loomis views experience working in the building and under Payton as a strength, he says it isn’t a necessity: “We’re going to get the best candidate we can, whether they have a history with us or not.”

It’s a statement that reflects an expansive search instead of another type of limitation. We’ll see if it bears fruit.

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Mickey Loomis says Saints’ next coach won’t have to keep any coaches

There had been thoughts that the Saints may want their next head coach to keep some of the staff intact. Mickey Loomis clarified that isn’t the case:

There were some concerns that a new head coach would have to hold on to some remnants of the New Orleans Saints’ previous regime. In his end-of-season presser, Mickey Loomis made it clear that would not be a requirement.

When asked if the next head coach would have to keep specific coaches on the staff, Loomis swiftly said, “No.” He went on to elaborate that he believes “in a head coach determining his staff.”

There had been some whispers of the opposite being true, and it seemed like Dennis Allen was stuck with Pete Carmichael when he first became head coach. Klint Kubiak being allowed to interview elsewhere is a good reason to take Loomis’ comments at face value.

Allowing staff members to interview elsewhere shows the current coach they’re not holding them hostage, and shows the future coach they’re open to parting ways with members of the staff.

Loomis has told current staff, “They’re all employed. They all have jobs here until a new coach comes in and makes his determination.” Loyalty is big for the Saints, but they are, thankfully, not being loyal to a fault. A lot of things went wrong for New Orleans in 2024. Being married to any part of the season would be a mistake.

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Mickey Loomis says negative feedback from fans not ‘a big problem’

New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis says negative feedback from fans is not ‘a big problem’ for him, but he understands criticism comes from passion:

Public confidence in Mickey Loomis has never been at a lower point than it is right now. The New Orleans Saints general manager is the longest-tenured executive among his peers around the league, but he’s put the team in a tight spot by maxing out the salary cap credit card on Dennis Allen’s vision for the team. The Saints haven’t reached the playoffs in four years.

“Wanted” posters laying out the poor decisions Loomis has made cover streets surrounding the Caesars Superdome, and you can’t talk about the Saints online without someone calling for his job. But Loomis said Monday that kind of negative feedback isn’t a real concern to him.

“People that I’ve run into, fans et cetera, they’re generally positive with me,” Loomis told reporters in his end-of-year press conference. “The occasional negative attitude, that’s just part of the job. That’s part of what we sign up for. And I try to not let it effect me, I don’t think it effects my family too much. I wouldn’t say that that’s a big problem. But I understand it. That’s the advantage, or the disadvantage of having such a passionate fanbase, is that when things aren’t going well they’ll be passionate in the other direction. I understand that. It’s understandable.”

That criticism comes from passion, and Loomis gave the closest thing yet to an acknowledgement that it’s valid. The team just hasn’t been good enough lately. And he wants to get them on the right track as badly as anyone watching from the stands or their living room.

Later, Loomis added, “I have a love for the community, a love for New Orleans. I wasn’t originally from here but I like to tell people I’m from here now. I know how much the success of our team impacts our city. So I take it personal when we’re not successful. All of our guys take it personal. That’s just part of being in New Orleans, it gets in your blood, into your soul. So not having a successful season is painful. I’m as determined as ever to get us back in the playoffs, back on the right track here.”

Those words mean a lot. But actions speak louder. Loomis must get the Saints back to the postseason, one way or another, and it might mean inspecting his own weaknesses as an executive. It’s felt like every Saints offseason has been more important than the last. But the work they’ll do in 2025 may determine more about their future than any of the last few offseasons that preceded it.

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Report: Mickey Loomis ‘has a good chance’ to return as Saints GM in 2025

ESPN reports Mickey Loomis ‘has a good chance’ to return as Saints general manager in 2025. He’s already the longest-tenured GM in the league:

Mickey Loomis has just about run out of goodwill with New Orleans Saints fans. Between a playoff drought stretching into its fourth season, a dead-end head coaching hire in Dennis Allen, a series of condescending media appearances, and the decision to move training camp out of state and closed to fans, there haven’t been many moves made by his front office that fans can be proud of.

Plenty of fans have taken to social media calling for Loomis to step down from his post. But it doesn’t sound like that’s in the cards. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that sources around the league don’t expect big shakeup at the top of the Saints’ organization:

The early belief among league insiders is that Mickey Loomis has a good chance to remain as Saints general manager. That’s not 100%, but that’s what people in the know on these sorts of things are predicting. The Saints have traditionally valued connectivity/familiarity, which could be a factor in the interview process (for a new head coach).

It’s not like the Saints don’t have alternatives in the building. Khai Harley, their salary cap expert and vice president of football operations who owns the assistant GM title, has spent years working under Loomis to get the most out of every dollar. Jeff Ireland, also named an assistant GM and vice president of college personnel, is just one of the former general managers in the front office. The players he’s scouted in the draft have gone on to find pro success (frustratingly, too often after the Saints’ coaching staff failed to help them). Other executives and front office personnel like Michael Parenton, Dave Ziegler, and Randy Mueller either have experience leading an organization or are seen as rising stars who could do so.

The point of all this? If continuity to their success five, ten, or fifteen years ago is so important to the Saints, they can maintain that without stubbornly sticking to Loomis. He’s the longest-tenured general manager in the league but he doesn’t have the recent success to show for it. Ultimately the decision is up to Gayle Benson, who has often deferred to Loomis on football decisions. Things could change over the next month, but as it currently stands we should expect Loomis to continue calling the shots in New Orleans.

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Mickey Loomis has a terrible record without Drew Brees and Sean Payton

Mickey Loomis wanted everyone to know who was really responsible for the Saints’ success after Sean Payton left. Now, there’s no question about it:

Mickey Loomis wanted everyone to know who was really responsible for the New Orleans Saints’ success after Drew Brees retired and Sean Payton stepped away to pursue other jobs. Now, after Loomis picked Dennis Allen and the team ran into the ground, there’s no question about it. Payton soundly beating his successor in prime time only illustrates that point.

Before hiring Allen, the teams Loomis built without Payton had a record of 28-36 (a winning percentage of .438). Now, after Allen’s 18-25 run, Loomis has a record of 46-61 (.430) when Payton wasn’t coaching his team. That doesn’t count the 2012 season in which both Payton and Loomis were suspended, but that year’s 7-9 finish wouldn’t really help his case, either (putting Loomis at 53-70 without Payton, or .431).

Maybe things would have gone differently had Loomis hired someone who didn’t already have an 8-28 record as a head coach to replace the winningest coach in team history. Maybe this team’s foundation was just weaker than he thought. Either way, what matters now is whether the Saints can dig themselves out of this hole. And whether Loomis is the right man to oversee that job.

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