There aren’t many general managers around the NFL with job security like Mickey Loomis, and it’s easy to see why. The franchise’s valuation has skyrocketed under his watch. Hired to the post way back in 2003, he helped raise the New Orleans Saints’ valuation from the $70 million that Tom Benson paid to buy the team in 1985 (which would be about $92 million today, due to inflation) to the $4 billion figure boasted around today. Loomis will be on staff as long as he wants to be, and he’s currently the longest-tenured general manager in the league.
But too many of his recent gambles have come back to burn the team. Not just the bad decision to promote Dennis Allen to head coach over better-qualified candidates like Doug Pederson, this week’s opponent with the Jacksonville Jaguars — but in the draft, too. There isn’t a more important even for acquiring young talent and sustaining long-term success than the annual NFL draft, and Loomis has played too fast and loose with the team’s draft picks.
Here’s what it’s cost them to add first-round players who aren’t helping the team like left tackle Trevor Penning (benched), defensive end Payton Turner (on injured reserve for the second time in three years), and defensive end Marcus Davenport (who left the team in free agency after an injury-plagued five-year career):
Trevor Penning
There were two factors involved with this trade for Penning: the Saints took the bait when the Philadelphia Eagles approached them about a trade, offering New Orleans another first round pick in 2022 which became Penning. But the Saints also made a slight move up from their initial first-round slot (at No. 18) so they could get in position to make another trade (from No. 16) even higher, targeting Chris Olave. That cost them their picks in the third (No. 101) and seventh rounds (No. 237).
But let’s keep focus on what was given up for Penning. The Saints acquired the Eagles’ No. 19 overall pick in exchange for their first rounder in 2023 and their second rounder in 2024. That 2023 first-round pick wound up slotting in at No. 10 overall and was spent by Philadelphia on defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who is currently looking like one of the best rookies in the entire draft class. And their 2024 second rounder going to the Eagles is currently projected to fall at No. 50 overall.
The Saints botched this trade, but drafting a more pro-ready player than Penning would have helped. They shouldn’t have passed on Tyler Smith — the Tulsa left tackle played well there for the Dallas Cowboys (who drafted him five picks later at No. 24) as a rookie and has since moved to guard given their wealth of resources along the offensive line, where’s still a standout. The Saints should have drafted Smith if they wanted a starting-quality left tackle. Instead, Penning is being benched while backups are brought up from the practice squad to plug holes in the lineup.
Payton Turner
The Saints didn’t trade up for Turner in 2021, but they passed on several better options at the same position to draft him. He was taken with the No. 28 overall pick — and despite the Saints leaking claims that other teams valued him higher than the defensive ends picked immediately after him, each of those players has outplayed him:
- Turner has 3 sacks and 20 solo tackles with 0 fumbles forced or recovered in 14 regular season games
- Gregory Rousseau (No. 30 to the Buffalo Bills) has 15 sacks and 80 solo tackles with 3 forced fumbles in 35 regular season games
- Odafe Oweh (No. 31 to the Baltimore Ravens) has 8 sacks and 55 solo tackles with 4 forced fumbles (and 3 recoveries) in 34 regular season games
- Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (No. 32 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) has 11 sacks and 55 solo tackles with 1 fumble recovery in 39 regular season games
Now, New Orleans was right to anticipate a run on edge rushers late in the first round that year. But they responded to that intuition by picking the wrong player. They misjudged how difficult Turner’s jump to the NFL from a smaller program than Miami, Penn State, and Washington would be, as well as how impactful his lengthy injury history would be on his pro prospects. It’s frustrating, and this isn’t the kind of mistake someone with Loomis’s experience ought to be making.
Marcus Davenport
The Saints had a golden opportunity to move up and secure their future at quarterback by picking Lamar Jackson, but they blew it. Instead, they overrated Davenport coming out of college as a stand-up pass rusher from a small school, trading a bevy of draft picks to the Green Bay Packers along the way.
Green Bay made off like bandits. The Saints sent their 2018 first rounder (No. 27) and fourth rounder (No. 147) as well as their first-round pick in 2019 (No. 30), which the industrious Packers front office used in a couple of trades with other teams.
Ultimately, the Packers turned those three picks from the Saints into four selections, spending them on:
- 2018 pick No. 18: CB Jaire Alexander (67 games in six years, two Pro Bowls)
- 2018 pick No. 88: LB Oren Burks (59 games in four years, left in free agency)
- 2018 pick No. 248: LB Kendall Donnerson (spent two years on the Packers practice squad)
- 2019 pick No. 21: FS Darnell Savage (67 games in five years)
Davenport ultimately played just 63 games in five years with the Saints, never earning Pro Bowl recognition or bagging double-digit sacks. Injuries, inconsistent play, and frankly long streaks of poor performance marred his career. He’s currently on injured reserve with the Minnesota Vikings and won’t be available when the Saints visit in a few weeks.
Loomis and the Saints saw a player with sky-high athletic potential but little pro readiness given what had been asked of him in college (as well as a bit of an injury history). They gambled that they could coach him up, that he would enjoy better health in the pros, and that he would help the team win football games. And they got burned on that gamble in 2018 just like they’ve been burned on Turner and Penning in 2021 and 2022; until very recently Cesar Ruiz, their top pick in 2020, would also have been in this conversation.
The point is that for someone who has been around the league for so long with decades of experience, Loomis is still making rookie mistakes that better decision-makers know to avoid — or else bait him into making for their benefit. How many years he has left in running the organization remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that Loomis won’t be rushed out the door. For all his mistakes, draft busts, and a disastrous head coach hire, he isn’t facing much criticism or drawing much accountability. Saints ownership has chosen to put him behind the wheel, and now they’re along for the ride just like the rest of us.
