JACKSON: Five takeaways from Mickey Loomis in the end-of-year presser

By Ross Jackson

For the first time since July, New Orleans Saints general manager and executive vice president Mickey Loomis addressed the full contingent of Saints media in his end-of-year press conference. During the meeting, he shared his thoughts and updates on several key topics.

Below are five major takeaways from his 45-minute conversations with the media, ranging in topics from the ongoing head coach search, the quarterback situation, and the team’s ever-entertaining salary cap gymnastics.

What is the team looking for in its new head coach?

Aside from hiring the best coach possible, Loomis did slip on some details about what the organization is looking for in its next team leader. One of the big qualities harkens back to the days of former coach Sean Payton: synergy. The team is looking for alignment across the board and a clear direction to take. 

“I think that one of the things that’s really important is to be able to have a collective vision and be on the same page,” Loomis said. “Organizationally, ownership, (general manager), coach, coaches, personnel department, we have to have the same collective vision. And we’ll get to that. All of these candidates are going to have strengths and weaknesses. And we’ve got our strengths and weaknesses and blind spots, and so you just have to go through that and figure out, and we will, who the best fit is for us.”

The notion is a viable one, yes. But it’s the vision that gets drawn into focus next. New Orleans has been out of the playoffs for each of the last four years, so who chooses the team’s direction becomes paramount. Loomis suggested that the new head coach will not only follow but also help create that vision. He also acknowledged the assistance of recently added advisors in the front office, including former general manager Randy Mueller and former Las Vegas Raiders general manager David Ziegler.

“We’ve got some ideas about how we can do our processes a little differently,” said Loomis. “It’s one of the advantages of having Dave (Ziegler) and Randy (Mueller), who are kind of outside looking in, come in and say, ‘Hey, what about this? What about that? Why are you doing it this way?’ There’s been some good dialogue and some good ideas that come out of that.”

What makes the Saints a good landing spot for a potential head coach?

It can be difficult to sell a team that is $52 million or more over the salary cap, with an aging roster and no solidified long-term answer at quarterback, to a head coach. At least, that’s the external perception. In reality, the Saints offer a situation that could appeal to a coach seeking patience and a long runway to build, establish, and maintain a supported culture. Loomis believes the Saints can provide this, but when asked to differentiate their open head coaching position from others, his response left much to be desired.

“We’ve got the best professional sports league in the world, right?” Loomis said when asked what makes the Saints job appealing.

“And there’s 32 jobs, and a lot of guys want to be a head coach. So every job is attractive—they just are, including ours. And we have a lot of things to offer. We have a great city, great fan base, and great ownership. We’ve had stability in our building for a long, long time, and I think we’re viewed that way.”

Having a job opening and having a job opening that candidates want are two different things, but it’s easy to see what Loomis is suggesting. The truth is that the Saints are viewed as a stable organization. Loomis has held his post as general manager since 2002, making him one of the longest-tenured general managers in the NFL. The team has been under the ownership of the Benson family since 1985. Before he moved on, former head coach Sean Payton was with the team for over a decade. There are no relocation talks or potential transfers of power waiting in the wings. All of that can certainly be enticing for a head coach looking to secure a job for the foreseeable future.

The roster, the salary cap situation, and the lingering questions at quarterback are indeed hard to shake from the outside perspective. Where the Saints can benefit is by emphasizing the potential of a nearly blank canvas for the next coach to build upon.

What is the future at quarterback for the Saints?

The question of quarterback can probably only be answered by the next head coach, but Loomis did give some insight on how he sees his veteran and young passers after a challenging season.

Starting with veteran quarterback Derek Carr, who missed seven games due to injury—including a season-ending hand injury sustained in the team’s Week 14 win over the New York Giants—he praised what could have been.

“I have a high level of confidence in Derek (Carr),” Loomis said. “He’s done some really good things here. If he had qualified, which I’m not sure if he did, I mean his quarterback rating would be in the top ten, his interception rating would be in the top ten, his yards per attempt would be in the top ten.”

Loomis acknowledged the challenging circumstances Carr faced with injuries to and around him. For the second consecutive season, Carr has dealt with increasing injuries after playing like an ironman throughout his career before arriving in New Orleans. As a result, the long-term outlook around Carr needs to be explored. 

“I like a lot of things that Spencer (Rattler) did during the season,” Loomis said. “I like Jake Haener, I like Derek. So we’ve got options. We’ve got things that we’re going to evaluate, things that a new coach is going to have on his plate to evaluate. And then we’ll have a collective vision.”

While he is pleased with what he’s seen at the position, it’s clear that the position may come down to the next head coach over anything else.

How close are the Saints to being out of cap hell?

The $52 million cap overage may be shocking to many, but it’s old hat and small potatoes in New Orleans. The Saints have said in previous offseasons that they are trying to make progress in recovering their salary cap situation, which has turned into an annual offseason novelty for those unfamiliar with how New Orleans maneuvers cap spending. However, when the team is in a postseason drought and just posted a five-win season, it’s reason to expect things to finally change, in terms of their approach. 

Loomis, on the other hand, disagrees with some of the narrative.

“I think you can’t just say, ‘Hey, here’s the number, here’s their over and that’s a disaster.’ right?” Loomis said. “We’ve got  the most players under contract of any team. Yes, we’re over, but there’s a lot of teams below us that have… We’ve got 61 players under contract right now, and there’s teams that have kept room, but they’ve got 38 or 36 (players on contract). So, it’s a collective, you know? How much guarantee is out there? How much is the acceleration that exists? Who are the players they have under contract? There’s so many elements.”

All of that may be true, but the Saints’ salary cap is still a unique monster. Having 61 players under contract, including nine on reserve/future deals, doesn’t preclude the team from being under the limit. The San Francisco 49ers, for instance, currently have 61 players on their roster for 2025. However, they sit at a comfortable $46.5 million under the salary cap. The nuanced differences aren’t limited to how many players are under contract, but instead, when those contracts were signed, how they were structured, and how they have been restructured.

Loomis is not panicking about where the team currently stands. Which, by all intents and purposes, is a better standing than what they have seen in recent years.

“I’m pretty comfortable with where we’re at. I’m comfortably uncomfortable, “ he said. “So it’s something we have to manage, but there’s a lot of teams that have to manage their cap that way, and some of the ones that don’t are going to have to at some point. So, I feel okay about where we’re at. I think we’re making progress from where we’ve been the last few years.”

What has been the cause of the team’s injury woes?

Loomis acknowledged that while fans don’t want to hear about injuries being the downfall of the team’s season in 2024, that injuries are a major concern. New Orleans was hit with a litany of ailments that cost several key players their seasons and severely hampered the team’s ability to find consistent success.

“What jumps out is the amount of injuries, and we’ve got to do a deep dive into that,” Loomis said. “Are there things that are preventable? Are there things that we missed in the evaluation process, for example. So all that is work that needs to be done.”

Former head coach Dennis Allen discussed doing a similar deep dive before his departure. However, given the injuries sustained by the Saints, as well as their NBA partner, the New Orleans Pelicans, the health and maintenance processes on Airline Drive are in serious need of scrutiny and adjustments this offseason.