Tag: Mickey Loomis

Opinion: Mickey Loomis shouldn’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach

Mickey Loomis got lucky back in 2006, and he’s ridden that win for too long. He can’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach after Dennis Allen went bust:

Mickey Loomis got lucky back in 2006 when the Green Bay Packers didn’t hire Sean Payton as their head coach, and he’s ridden that win for too long.  Really, he got lucky twice — that same offseason the Miami Dolphins failed a physical for Drew Brees, who signed with the New Orleans Saints instead. That combination established the greatest era in franchise history, winning a Super Bowl together and changing the perception of pro football in New Orleans for a generation.

And Loomis has gotten too much credit for it. When Payton agreed to take the job as his second choice, Loomis was coming off a terrible decision to trade up for Johnathan Sullivan in the 2003 NFL draft, a historic bust at defensive tackle who was off the team and then out of the league in just three years. It’s a mistake he didn’t learn from and repeated with later draft-day gambles on Sedrick Ellis (2008) and Marcus Davenport (2018), among others. It isn’t exaggeration to say Payton and Brees saved his job.

Just look at his record. The Saints have gone 48-61 during his tenure as general manager when Payton wasn’t coaching them (not counting the 2012 season when Loomis and Payton were both suspended). Now look at his peers. The next three longest-tenured GM’s have all seen their teams advance to multiple Super Bowls — Les Snead (107-99-1), Howie Roseman (135-103-1), and John Schneider (144-94-1). Just because Loomis has held his post a long time doesn’t mean he’s the best at his job. His official record is 207-160, including the 2012 season, but as we said many of those wins can be attributed to Payton.

And Payton was one of two head coaches Loomis has hired. The other was Dennis Allen, who failed to sustain the success Payton found and turned into a dead end. That decision wasted everyone’s time during the 2022, 2023, and very likely 2024 seasons, too. Despite his protests that injuries were to blame, team owner Gayle Benson overruled Loomis and finally fired Allen after his 24-46 career record fell to 26-53 this year.

All of this was said to say that Loomis shouldn’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach after this season. If Darren Rizzi earns the job by winning out and getting to the playoffs, awesome — that would be remarkable. If a candidate familiar with the organization like Aaron Glenn or Joe Brady ends up being the best fit, great. But that shouldn’t be a call Loomis should make. He’s shown before that he’ll take the easy way out and hire someone he knows, like Allen, rather than seriously consider an outside candidate.

Loomis got lucky once and it bought him a lifetime of job security. The last time he was given free reign to hire a coach he set the franchise back for years. Now, with the hope of a clean salary cap ledger on the horizon and the possibility of a reset coming with it, the Saints can’t trust that Loomis will learn from his mistakes and make the right decision. If firing him isn’t an option, and there’s nothing to suggest it is, promote him to a hands-off role in senior leadership and let someone with a fresh perspective (like assistant general manager Khai Harley) take the reins. We’ll just have to wait and see if Gayle Benson agrees.

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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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Saints coach search: Do they meet Ben Johnson’s requirements?

It’s been reported that Lions OC Ben Johnson has two requirements for any head coaching vacancy he’ll consider. Do the Saints qualify?

Ben Johnson is projected to be the leading candidate in the head coaching cycle this year. He’s been a name thrown around for a couple of years, and Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer has reported Johnson’s approach to head coaching vacancies this year.

If Johnson is interviewing, he fully plans on taking the job. This means any team sits down with Johnson has a good chance to land him. In the past, coaches have interviewed just to gather information on the job.

Johnson also a pair of criteria for any vacancy. Do the New Orleans Saints meet those requirements?

Breer reports Johnson is looking for “Organizational alignment — in particular between the GM and the head coach. And then he’ll be looking for recognition from the organization of the things that have gone wrong, and a willingness to fix them.”

Organizational alignment won’t be determined until he gets in the room, and it’s difficult from the outside looking in. As for the second criteria, will New Orleans recognize what went wrong.

There are a couple of ways to look at this. Mickey Loomis has made comments to make you wonder if he actually sees the downfall of the Dennis Allen era or if firing Allen was just something that had to happen.

On the other hand, the Saints fired their head coach in the middle of the year and let go of Pete Carmichael. The last year has been filled with making the necessary moves. This could be a sign to Johnson of the Saints’ ability to recognize and course correct.

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How big a part did fans pay in Saints’ coaching change?

Saints fans were frustrated with Dennis Allen for a long time. Eventually, those frustrations became too loud for Gayle Benson to ignore:

When New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson, not Mickey Loomis, made the decision to fire Dennis Allen, she listened to the fan base, literally.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said, “Benson and her group was hearing from the fan base in a way they hadn’t before.” The fan base wasn’t the reason Allen was relieved of his duties, but their vocal opposition to him remaining as coach played a part. Breer reported Benson’s “resolve was strengthened through that.”

Saints fans have been frustrated with Allen for a while. Many fans hoped for his termination at the end of last season. Allen was .500 as the Saints head coach coming into 2024, but with context it wasn’t impressive. The inability to take advantage of a weak schedule or defeat quality teams over two years had taken its toll.

Things improved to start the season. The addition of Klint Kubiak had the Saints looking like a high flying offense and one of the best teams in the NFL. That may have made the seven game losing skid hurt even more because those first two weeks were essentially false hope.

Being embarrassed at home in back to back weeks against the Buccaneers and Broncos only incited fans more. The chants for change weren’t always vocal, but the volume was louder than ever. Loud enough to reach ownership.

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Internal and external pressure led Gayle Benson to fire Dennis Allen

Internal feedback from players and external pressure from frustrated fans led Gayle Benson to fire Saints head coach Dennis Allen:

Gayle Benson made an unprecedented decision to fire New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen this week after the team’s 2-7 start to the season, and it took a combination of internal feedback from players and external pressure from frustrated fans to sway her mind.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported that Benson and her ownership group “was hearing from the fan base in a way they hadn’t before, and their resolve was strengthened through that, to the point where perception inside the building holds that Allen might’ve been fired Monday even if he’d beaten the Carolina Panthers.”

That lines up with reporting from NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, who wrote that Benson had spoken with several players to gauge their feel for the team’s direction. And what they told her wasn’t good.

Benson, who inherited the team from her late husband in 2018, had been content to trust Loomis on football decisions. But his trust in a coach with a losing record even before the Saints hired him warranted reevaluation. Loomis later told NOF’s Mike Triplett that he characterized it as more of an “organization decision” than a serious disagreement with Benson.

Still, at the end of the day this is Benson’s team, and this was her decision to make. Allen was a big part of their success in the playoff pushes of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, but by now it’s clear he wasn’t cut out to be a full-time head coach. He’ll be searching for his next opportunity elsewhere. Loomis and Benson will be looking for their next coach.

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Darren Rizzi on the Marshon Lattimore trade: ‘That was Mickey’s call’

Darren Rizzi had no part in the Marshon Lattimore trade, but the New Orleans Saints interim head coach does ‘stand by it’

Darren Rizzi may not have made the call to trade Marshon Lattimore, but that doesn’t mean he disapproves of the decision. This is unsurprising. An interim head coach wouldn’t get the power to make that decision on his second day.

That decision was all Mickey Loomis, Rizzi revealed on Wednesday: “I felt like that was Mickey’s call, he felt like that was a great decision, and certainly I stand by it.”

Rizzi has been around the NFL for a long time. He understands what a rebuild looks like, so he’s aware moves like this happen when you’re breaking the team down.

Lattimore has been a great piece, but there was enough reported tension between he and the Saints to have his future in New Orleans in question even if there wasn’t a pending rebuild.

Rizzi also added that he believes the compensation was fair in return. Lattimore garnered a larger return than Jalen Ramsey or L’Jarius Sneed. He did that with a growing injury history and dealing with a hamstring as we speak.

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Saints GM comments on firing head coach Dennis Allen

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis shared a statement on the firing of head coach Dennis Allen Monday morning:

The New Orleans Saints firing of head coach Dennis Allen Monday morning was a long time coming and had been on the “to-do” list for far too long. However, now it is over thankfully, and the Saints will move on to interim head coach Darren Rizzi until the offseason, when they can make the decision on whether they wish to keep him full-time or move on to a new candidate.

After the firing of Allen, general manager Mickey Loomis had a few comments regarding the move and Allen’s time in New Orleans. This came in the form of a news release posted by the Saints shortly after Allen’s firing in the early morning. Loomis was quoted as saying:

“DA is an excellent football coach. This season, we have had an avalanche of injuries. It took its toll. DA has never offered excuses, he fought each day for this organization and this team and that is what makes today disappointing. Dennis has been an integral part of this organization’s success for the better part of twenty years. He will be missed.”

Loomis clearly appreciated Allen for his tenure with the Saints, which we have seen time and time again in how he had regarded the former head coach. However, it was time to move on and ultimately Loomis and Gayle Benson had to make the final call.

Firing Dennis Allen leaves the Saints with the least desirable coach opening in the NFL

Taking over the Saints means inheriting Derek Carr, the league’s worst salary cap situation and a GM lacking recent draft hits.

Dennis Allen was supposed to be the continuation of the Sean Payton era for the New Orleans Saints. Instead, he brought it to its logical conclusion.

Allen held serve for two seasons, keeping an aging core hovering around .500 without truly threatening anyone in the NFC playoff hunt. But a 2-0 start that made Derek Carr look like a savvy veteran acquisition quickly crumbled into a 2-7 record. It was clear nothing good was waiting on New Orleans’s horizon.

Thus, Allen was fired after seven straight losses, an inevitable decision that still feels a bit premature. That’s not because Allen deserved more time to turn things around — he couldn’t — but because, well, who else is going to want to inherit this roster?

The majority of the Saints’ key players are either on the wrong side of 30 years old or will be in 2025, including Carr, Alvin Kamara, Cameron Jordan, Demario Davis, Tyrann Mathieu and Taysom Hill. This year’s garbage record will create the highest draft position New Orleans has seen since at least 2008 when it selected Sedrick Ellis seventh overall. Unfortunately, general manager Mickey Loomis has struggled since his stellar draft class of 2017. Since picking up Kamara, Ryan Ramczyk and Marshon Lattimore in one fell swoop, just one Saints draftee has been named to a Pro Bowl — center Erik McCoy.

Loomis’s draft misses, which include first round disappointments like Trevor Penning and Peyton Turner the last four years, wouldn’t be so much of an issue if it weren’t for the other vein of his roster management. The longtime executive has long treated the salary cap like a college student handles a credit card, deferring payments well into the future with signing bonuses and restructures.

That works when you’re keeping Drew Brees in butter brickle. It’s much less appealing when your quarterback is getting roasted by Michael Thomas for getting one of his team’s few bright young stars concussed and your defense has given up more yards than all but four other teams. Loomis’s estimated 2025 salary cap space to fix that? A robust negative-$61 million, per Over the Cap.

There’s little to build around in Louisiana. Chris Olave has WR1 bonafides and is only 24 years old. Rashid Shaheed is an electric, if slightly specialized, deep threat. Paulson Adebo is quietly becoming a trustable cornerback.

Bryan Bresee might develop into a reliable starter even if his current play on the field doesn’t line up with the four sacks he’s recorded (he has as many quarterback pressures as Alontae Taylor this fall. Taylor is a cornerback). Taliese Fuaga is extremely mean and versatile, which are wonderful traits for a rookie offensive tackle to have.

Veterans like Lattimore (still playing at a high level, but now bringing injury concerns), McCoy (currently hurt) and a still-dealing Kamara offer some latitude to bridge the gap between the team’s past and its future. Ultimately, however, this is a 2-7 team with no cash to spend on free agents, even as Adebo heads toward the open market next spring. Building through the draft is the sensible solution to that but, whoops, Loomis’s recent track record there is soundly below average.

This is what the Saints have to pitch to their next full time head coach. A bunch of old, respected veterans considerably closer to retirement than their NFL debuts. A high draft pick and a front office that has lost the benefit of the doubt when it comes to identifying impact rookies. A punter with a top speed of 20 miles per hour and, you know what, that one actually sounds pretty cool.

The value of Allen was as a scapegoat. A guy who could keep fans invested while the folks behind the scenes worked to untangle a knot they’d spent the last decade creating, then fade away when it was time to rise up and contend again. But seven straight losses was untenable, especially when one came against the desiccated husk of the Carolina Panthers.

That killed the dream of Allen being good enough to set someone else up on the sunny side of New Orleans’s rebuild. Instead, the 2025 hire will have the opportunity to go spelunking with Carr (who carries a $20 million dead salary cap hit even if designated a post-June 1 release next offseason), a bunch of contracts the Saints will be happy to see slide off the books and some former first and second round picks who may or may not actually be good.

The good news is expectations for year one will be low for whomever takes the reins. The bad news is, well, good luck selling that to Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn or the rest of 2025’s hottest head coach candidates.

Dennis Allen is on his longest single-season losing streak

Seven games is the longest losing streak of Dennis Allen’s career, and it’s the most games he’s lost consecutively in a season:

The New Orleans Saints have lost seven games in a row, with the last game being to the Carolina Panthers. This is the hottest Dennis Allen’s seat has ever been from outside voices, and the pressure is mounting from the front office at this point.

This is the longest single season losing streak of Allen’s coaching career. As coach of the Raiders, he suffered six game losing streaks in both of his first two seasons but he never reached seven in one year.

Allen’s longest skid was 10 games and extended over two seasons. This led to his departure from Oakland. He hasn’t made it to 10 games, but it’s possible if Allen even makes it that far.

NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reported “everything is on the table after that loss” including a firing. The bye week always seemed like the point where a decision on Allen’s future would be made. This loss to Carolina could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

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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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