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.
