The New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has been with the Saints since 2002. The Christopher Nolan look-alike, Loomis, is one of the very best GMs in the NFL and he has done a fantastic job of helping the Saints in the post Drew Brees/Sean Payton era. With that said, I believe Loomis’s reputation is a bit mysterious, especially with how much brainpower the GM carries. So, I’m going to outline a few fascinating facts about Loomis.

• Loomis was named NFL Executive of the year in 2006

The Saints GM managed to bring in Sean Payton and Drew Brees in the same offseason (2006). The Saints impressively reached the NFC championship in year one under Payton and Brees. Loomis rightfully garnered respect for his ability to significantly uplift the Saints from 2005 to 2006 and beyond.

• Saints 2017 draft was the best draft class since 2015

The Saints had an overly superb draft in 2017, where they drafted Marshon Lattimore, Marcus Williams, Alvin Kamara, Alex Anzalone, and Trey Hendrickson. The Pro Football Focus expert Mike Renner graded the Saints 2017 draft class ahead of every other team’s draft class since 2015. It should also be stated that Trey Hendrickson has been a bit of a late bloomer over the past couple of seasons. The Saints don’t have Hendrickson, Anzalone, or Williams, but they still heavily lean on AK and Lattimore.

• Saints have the second-most wins since 2017

The Saints have had romantic exits from the postseason, but they have been a regular-season juggernaut since 2017. In fact, there is only one team that has been more dominant than NO in the non-playoff season since 2017: the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs. The Saints have had 58 wins since 2017, while KC has knocked out 60 victories since 2017. It’s special that the Saints have still been utterly productive in the season with injuries to Drew Brees and Jameis Winston.

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By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints drafted Jimmy Graham in the third round of the 2010 draft. Graham was more than a pleasant surprise in his time as a Saint. The former Saints TE unveiled 99 receptions (career-high), 1,310 yards (career-high), and 11 receiving touchdowns in his second season in the NFL. Graham progressed and unleashed an All-Pro season in 2013, where he registered 16 touchdowns with 1,215 yards.

Graham was shipped out of the Big Easy in the 2015 offseason and started a new journey as a Seattle Seahawk. Graham didn’t have his older brother Drew Brees in Seattle, but it didn’t stop him from making his mark in Seattle. Graham ousted 65 receptions and 923 yards in year one as a Seahawk. Those stats were both franchise records at the TE position in the rainy city. The former college football and college basketball stud would spend two years in Green Bay (2018, 2019) and then play the last two seasons in the NFC North for the Chicago Bears.

Graham is 35 years old, but I certainly believe he can be a red-zone threat and modest receiving threat down the seam in the right scheme. Furthermore, I believe he can find the right scheme in a familiar place: New Orleans. It wouldn’t only be poetic if Jimmy returned to his roots, but I believe they need his skillset.

Jimmy Graham might have had his worst season in his career in 2021, but it was largely due to the Bears having a disaster offense as a whole. In 2020, Graham unleashed 8 touchdowns. Since 2014, Graham has only had two seasons of 8+ touchdowns (2017, 2020). He may not be burning defenses for 20+ yard catches at this stage in his career, but he still can be a challenge to guard in the red zone.

The Saints starting TE Adam Trautman has been a bust for Who Dat Nation thus far. He’s recorded a mere 434 yards and three touchdowns in the past two seasons. He also takes the phrase “Butterfingers” to a whole new level, as he caught 27 of 43 targets last season. Taysom Hill has also caught a whopping one touchdown in the last two seasons combined. The Saints have been aching for a reliable TE, particularly a TE that can consistently catch passes and moss defenders for six points.

The Saints don’t have Sean Payton calling the shots, but they do still have General Manager Mickey Loomis and Offensive Coordinator, Pete Carmichael, in town. Loomis was the GM that drafted Graham and Carmichael was the Saints OC when Graham first played in a Black and Gold uniform. It’s also been recently noted that Graham wished he never left the Saints and the establishment that first gave him an opportunity.

Dennis Allen, who is the new ring leader in town, needs to get creative this offseason and lobby for players that aren’t pricey. The Saints are buried in cap hell, as they are ranked dead last in the league. The Saints realistically can’t obtain weapons like Michael Gallup, JuJu Smith Schuster, and Robert Gronkowski. They will need to find under-the-radar players for potentially QB Jameis Winston and find ways for the cheaper acquisitions to outperform their expectations. Graham should be looking at a lower-end picture of $4-5 million per season at this stage in his career.

If the Saints can’t find a TE or big body WR that is a good long-term fit or player worth a heftier price tag, they should consider calling Graham to return home. Graham could be a smart addition that can be a nice veteran presence and slot weapon across from the hungry Michael Thomas.

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by Michael Obermuller

In 2020, Stefon Diggs led the NFL in receptions with 127 during his inaugural season in Buffalo. It was a legendary campaign for Bills’ new WR1, but he’s still more of a newcomer when it comes to this honor. The recent king of catches has been New Orleans Saints star Michael Thomas, and he’s the only player to actually top Diggs’ 2020 output.

It was a rough 2020 for MT, starting with a high ankle sprain in Week 1. Then, after an altercation on the practice field before his expected Week 5 return, Thomas was benched and fined for breaking team rules. Things got worse from there, as the wide-out did not end up returning until Week 9 (injury flare ups). After six games on the field, Thomas finished the year off it again, joining the injured reserve before Week 15.

“Can’t Guard Mike” was the receptions leader in both 2018 and ’19, and there’s no reason to believe that he cannot take back this title again in 2021. Here’s why.

1. Career Consistency

The New Orleans Saints WR1 caught 149 passes two seasons ago, totaling 1,725 yards and nine touchdowns through the air. The next closest pass-catcher was running back Christian McCaffrey, with 116 receptions. This was not just a career season by MT, it was a campaign that will go down in the NFL history books as one of the greatest of all-time. Thomas was never a one-hit wonder either. He also led the NFL in receptions in 2018 (125), and finished third in 2017 (104).

In fact, since his rookie season in 2016, MT has only caught less than 100 passes twice; 92 as a rookie (which is actually pretty ridiculous) and 40 during his injury-ruined 2020 campaign. This is one of the most consistent players in all of football. Not wide receivers, players. No wide-out has been as steady as Thomas in terms of receptions though, and that includes rivals like DeAndre Hopkins and Davante Adams. He is currently averaging 7.3 receptions per game throughout his career, with a 77.6 percent catch rate.

2. Stats Without Brees

One of the arguments against Thomas has always been that he plays with future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, but this is an unfair critique of MT’s game. Whenever Brees has missed time in recent years, his top wide receiver has performed just as impressively without him, if not more so.

The stats above are from three games with Teddy Bridgewater in 2019. Thomas averaged 8.3 catches per game during that span, which is actually higher than that 7.3 career average. Brees also went down in 2020, and MT produced yet again (and with lingering injuries and Taysom Hill at QB this time). During four games with Hill throwing the ball, Thomas caught 30 passes for 343 yards, which averaged out to 7.5 receptions per game.

Clearly, MT doesn’t care who’s throwing him the football, so why would it matter if Jameis Winston (or Hill again) is his quarterback in 2021? If anything, Winston is known as a gunslinger who actually led the NFL in passing yardage in 2019. The Saints may also play from behind more with Jameis or Taysom at QB, which generally means more passing attempts and wide receiver targets. Thomas will be just fine without Brees, after all his nickname is Can’t Guard Mike for a reason.

3. Sean Payton

NOLA general manager Mickey Loomis extended Thomas in 2019. The five year deal was worth a record-breaking $96 million-plus. That is an expensive weapon, and don’t think for a second that head coach Sean Payton won’t milk that weapon for every penny so long as he’s wearing a Saints jersey. We are talking about one of the most creative offensive minds the game has ever seen, with one of the best pure route runners of the NFL today.

Whichever route New Orleans goes at quarterback, Thomas will be a major part of it. Outside of 2020, MT has averaged 150.5 targets per season in Payton’s offense, and the HC has already proven he can win without Brees just like the wide-out has proven he can put up numbers without his former QB. This is not meant to disparage Brees, but instead credit a couple of the key influencers on his career. The Saints have also lost WR2 Emmanuel Sanders and TE Jared Cook in free agency, meaning Payton may have to rely on his WR1 more than usual this season.

Two things are for certain; the Saints offense will score in 2021, and Michael Thomas will catch many passes so long as he’s on the field. He may even reclaim his crown.

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By: Jeremy Trottier

With the 2021 NFL offseason close to being coming over, and training camps coming in the near future, we have had another chance to see teams being managed both poorly and very well.  Coming into this offseason, the Saints had one of the worst outlooks, due to their financial liabilities as well as not having nearly enough draft picks to fill all the holes made.  Yet here we are, the Saints still looking poised to be in contention for a division title. 

If the Saints do take the division title again this year, that would make their fifth in a row, which is more than any other franchise in the division has had in a row since 2002 (conception of the division with these four teams.).  With that said, there is a reason the Saints have been dominating in this stat for the last four seasons.  His name is Mickey Loomis.  In this article, I will be going over three reasons why Loomis should be considered the best general manager in the game today.  

Cap Space Compliance

This one has to be by far the most interesting and pertinent to the situation.  The last few years obviously the Saints have been competitors and have made the playoffs for awhile now.  They have continued to do so without having to get rid of many of the core pieces to this roster.  The reason being is that Loomis is absolutely amazing at working around the cap ceiling.

Take this year for example.  Loomis was able to shed roughly 99 million dollars of cap space in about two months, while keeping the core intact for next season.  He also did this under the Covid-19 cap ceiling, which is significantly lower than it has been in previous years due to little to no in person attendance.  This was absolutely wild to watch as a fan of the league, as he worked around every possible outcome to make this happen.

Anywhere from normal cuts to a huge amount of re-structured deals, to an 140 million dollar “extension” for Taysom Hill, in which all years are voidable and they do not have to pay a dime after this year.  Mickey has been an absolute force when it comes to clearing out the cap situation in a time effective and knowledgeable manner.  He was even able to franchise tag Marcus Williams for another ten million dollars this offseason, as well as sign some free agents and draft picks.  We are likely looking at over 110 million dollars cleared from the cap overall to comply with league standards this offseason.

Draft Picks & Draft Day Trade Success

In the last four years, the Saints front office has not drafted a non-starting player to their roster in the first three rounds at any point.  Just to prove this, I will list every player from 2016-2020 they have taken in rounds one through three, and how many starts they have on the team so far.

• 2016: Sheldon Rankins (33 starts), Michael Thomas (62 starts), Vonn Bell (45 starts for NOLA, 16 in Cincinnati), David Onyemata (4^th rounder, 40 starts)
• 2017: Marshon Lattimore (57 starts in 57 games), Ryan Ramczyk (63 starts in 63 games), Marcus Williams (60 starts in 60 games), Alvin Kamara (35 starts), Alex Anzalone (20 starts), Trey Hendrickson (18 starts)
• 2018: Marcus Davenport (14 starts), Tre ”˜Quan Smith (23 starts)
• 2019: Erik McCoy (32 starts in 32 games), Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (4^th rounder, 20 starts)
• 2020: Cesar Ruiz (9 starts in rookie year), Zack Baun (3 starts), Adam Trautman (6 starts)

With quite a few people saying the Saints drafted poorly in 2021, they really need to take a look at the history of their picks.  While some of them were seen as questionable picks at the time, at the end of the day they turned out to be very solid players.  Loomis has been able to facilitate some great draft classes over the years and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Facilitation of Staff

Finally, we have Mickey’s ability to rebuild staff that leaves the franchise and keep the most important ones.  Starting with Sean Payton, one of the best offensive masterminds in the league leading the pack.  His ability to take someone nobody knew at the time in Taysom Hill and turning him into one of the best gadget players if not the face of gadget players in the league is nothing short of impressive.

They have also been able to retain Jeff Ireland, who has been fantastic at scouting players over the course of his career, and is a high level assistant GM.  In terms of positional coaches, you have Ryan Nielsen and brought in Kris Richard, Nielsen being a very consistent coach for the defensive line and being able to develop players very quickly.  Then Richard being a new hire, who will again be working with a Stanford rookie CB (Paulson Adebo) after working with a former one during the legion of boom in Richard Sherman.

Overall, the ability to retain the main functional pieces of the coaching staff while being able to also bring in new improvements for the franchise is exceptional.  This is a huge reason as to why he should be seen as one of the best GMs in the league. 

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