HANAGRIFF: McCarthy may be the Saints only hope

By Charles Hanagriff

Mickey Loomis led off his season end press conference with a couple of guidelines. 

He wasn’t going to talk about the specifics of the search for a head coach, and since player evaluations weren’t complete, he wasn’t going to discuss that either. 

Outside of questions about players and coaches, fire away! 

It got worse from there for Saints fans hoping for some kind of organizational shift in philosophy.  Loomis believes that the Saints can turn around quickly, and just because “the results aren’t what we want, it doesn’t mean we’re doing something wrong.” 

Actually, it does. 

The Saints record in the four years since Drew Brees retired is 30-38.  If that seems even better than it felt, it’s useful to remember that New Orleans has exactly two wins in the last two seasons over teams with winning records–the 2023 Colts and Bucs, who both finished 9-8. 

If we’re being “honest with ourselves”, as Loomis suggested, it helps to add that seven of the Saints wins in 2023 came against this lineup of quarterbacks: a washed-up Ryan Tannehill, an overwhelmed rookie Bryce Young, Tommy DeVito, Desmond Ridder, Tyson Bagent, and Mac Jones. 

In those same four years, New Orleans has drafted 25 players.  Only six have become full time starters, and that includes Paulson Adebo, who is scheduled to be a free agent.   

Even if you count part time starters Jordan Howden and Spencer Rattler, that’s a pretty meager draft haul.  Compounding the problem is that the Saints have drafted at least four players in the first four rounds only twice in the last seven years.  There is a good reason this team has very little depth. 

The team is over $52 million above the salary cap right now, a figure that must be rectified by the start of the new league year in March.  Loomis noted that the Saints have the most players under contract of any team.  I’ll note that none of them made the Pro Bowl, though J.T. Gray was a second team All-Pro as a special teams player. 

The team will get under the cap by March, as they do every year, and Loomis’ number of players under contract is correct, even if it is a touch misleading (the 49ers have a similar number of players under contract, with about 100m less in liabilities).  The Pro Bowl, not the actual defunct game, but the distinction, is only one measuring stick of talent on a team. 

But there is no other measuring method that suggests this is a good squad.  They do not have a good record.  They don’t have many top players.  They don’t have much money to spend and still stay in compliance with the cap.  They have not drafted well. 

This is all before we get to Dennis Allen who was fired midway through the season.  Allen’s record was 26-53 over six seasons.  There have been 204 men who have coached at least 50 games in the NFL.  Allen’s winning percentage of .329 ranks 189th.  When asked about Allen’s dismissal, Loomis said, “it was an organizational decision, and I’m part of the organization.” 

Loosely translated, and backed up by recent comments from Allen himself, Loomis wanted to keep the coach. 

How many results are Saints fans supposed to look past? 

Compare that tone to that of Mike Tomlin, under fire in Pittsburgh despite having 18 CONSECUTIVE non-losing seasons. 

“I definitely don’t feel in the mood for selling optimism,” said Tomlin.  “I don’t know that that’s appropriate.  You know, it’s disappointing not to be working.  And so that’s where we are.” 

That coach has made the playoffs four of the last five seasons. 

There are documented shortcomings or outright failures in record, the draft, the roster, and the cap, over the last four years.  Loomis suggesting that the Saints are on the right track implies that nobody in that building is telling him differently, or, if they are, he is not listening. 

Which brings us to Mike McCarthy, who parted ways with the Dallas Cowboys this week. 

I understand the city won’t start the Bacchus parade early if McCarthy gets this job.  His Dallas teams won only one playoff game in the last five years, and his Super Bowl win is 15 years in the rearview mirror. 

Here’s why McCarthy, who has a career record nearly identical to Tomlin and former Saints coach Sean Payton, could give Saints fans a glimmer of hope. 

Loomis might actually listen to him. 

McCarthy spent five years in the Saints organization as offensive coordinator in the early 2000’s.  Loomis knows him and has worked with him before.  If he is hired, that would suggest a level of trust I’m not sure would be there with a first-time head coach. 

The one positive thing out of the Monday press conference was that Loomis said the new head coach will have a large say in the direction of the franchise, including the fate of quarterback Derek Carr.  McCarthy might be the one guy who can convince Loomis that all the salary cap gymnastics and squandering of draft choices is not the way to build a team. 

Loomis won’t get that push from ownership, he isn’t getting it from his current staff, and he isn’t getting fired or retiring.  Somebody has to get through to him that staying status quo isn’t going to get this team where it wants to be. 

McCarthy could be that guy, though it’s no slam dunk.  I don’t know if the Saints will offer him the job or if he would take it if they did.  Furthermore, I don’t know that McCarthy doesn’t agree with Loomis on the current situation, or the direction of the franchise, though it would be surprising if he did. 

I do know that based on Monday, Loomis appears to have no intention of making big changes to operations outside of head coach, and no other head coach available to the Saints has the resume of McCarthy. 

The next moves of both will be telling.