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So far, the 2020 NFL season has not looked like any that came before it. And that will continue to be the case underneath the COVID-19 pandemic. For New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, the next challenge is clear: evaluating his roster without preseason games.
While final say on personnel decisions comes down to Saints coach Sean Payton, Loomis and his front office staff do an important job in assembling the roster for Payton and his coaches to parse through. The more information gathered, the better; so it’s going to be difficult to do that without preseason game tape to study.
Because the NFL canceled its 2020 preseason series due to the pandemic, decision-makers around the league are sweating tough calls on who to keep and who to release after training camp.
Loomis appeared on Sirius XM NFL Radio on Thursday to take stock of the situation. When asked whether he’s feeling concerned about thinning the roster, he replied with the affirmative.
“My biggest fear,” Loomis said, via Luke Johnson of the Times-Picayune | New Orelans Advocate, “is you let a good player get out of the building, and that guy ends up getting on with someone else, and performing.”
Half the players the Saints released at the start of training camp — when new NFL rules mandated that depth charts be trimmed from 90 players to just 80 — already signed with new teams, and others that started games in New Orleans in previous years are competing on other rosters around the NFL. Loomis and the Saints are well aware that they’ve built a strong team; the question is how to keep the right pieces together.
Fortunately, he knows that other general managers and coaches are second-guessing themselves just like he might be. The lack of preseason game tape means everyone is working with a limited reference pool. Loomis continued, “It’s the same thing (for rival teams). Those teams that let a good player get out of the building, we don’t have as much information about that (decision).”
We’ll see if it ends up mattering. Teams must cut their rosters down to just 53 players by 3 p.m. CT on Sept. 5, giving them a crucial final week of training camp practices to evaluate. After released players test waivers, they will be eligible to re-sign with the practice squad. So don’t be shocked if some last-minute trades get worked out as teams seek to get the jump on their rivals.
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