There isn’t a longer-tenured general manager in the NFL than Mickey Loomis — and the New Orleans Saints’ top decision-maker has learned that some deals may not be worth making when certain executives around the league call him up. He shouldn’t answer a phone call from the 215 area code ever again in case Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is on the line. He admitted as much during an interview with former Eagles defensive end Chris Long on the Green Light Podcast.
Loomis singled Roseman out as one rival executive whose interest now gives him pause — if this guy is calling about trading for a player or swapping draft picks, where’s the catch? What does Roseman know that Loomis doesn’t? Is he about to get fleeced?
“Well I think Howie Roseman is one of those guys, he’s very smart,” Loomis laughed, smiling thinly. “Look, Howie and I have done some deals in the past. He’s really a bright guy. He’s done a great job in Philly. But he’s also one of those guys where I have to keep both hands in my back pockets when I’m talking to Howie. And I mean that in the most complimentary way.”
Roseman has gotten the better of Loomis and the Saints a little too often in recent years. He acquired C.J. Gardner-Johnson after contract talks collapsed in New Orleans for a couple of late-round draft picks (one of which he’ll get back as a compensatory pick after failing to agree to a long-term extension with Gardner-Johnson, who signed with the Detroit Lions in free agency). That’s after Roseman talked Loomis into trading multiple early-round picks in subsequent draft classes for a 2022 first-rounder that became Trevor Penning, who missed most of his rookie year with injuries. And that pick became a top-10 selection in 2023. Loomis is known for aggressively trading up in the draft, sometimes to his detriment, and it’s something Roseman has taken advantage of.
Long asked how Roseman compares to one of his other former bosses: New England Patriots head coach and de facto GM Bill Belichick, who Loomis has also dealt with often over the years.
Loomis reflected, “It’s all business (with Belichick). But Bill’s really straightforward and I appreciate that about him. He’s really straightforward about what he wants, and what he’ll do, and if it works great, if it doesn’t, he’s fine with that. So I like doing business with those guys.”
All told it’s a very candid and informative interview from Loomis. Long does a great job asking engaging questions and touching on Loomis’s NFL career before he came to New Orleans, when his father Howie Long was bullying the Seattle Seahawks that gave Loomis his first job in pro football. Give it a listen.
