The New Orleans Saints find themselves at a critical juncture as they enter the 2025 offseason. Fresh off a disappointing 5-12 campaign that saw them miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year and fire head coach Dennis Allen midseason, the franchise faces a raft of difficult decisions. In a wide-ranging end-of-season press conference, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis opened up about the challenges that lie ahead and the soul-searching required to get the team back on track.
Confronting Hard Truths
Loomis, now in his 23rd year as Saints GM, pulled no punches in his assessment of where things stand. “Absolutely,” he said when asked if firing Allen was an admission of an organizational problem. “But that isn’t just the coach. We’ve got to look at ourselves. I’ve got to look at the way I’m operating. I’ve got to look at the way that all of us in football operations were operating, all the way down to … the injury issue. All the things that contribute to a successful program, you have to evaluate.”
It was a stark contrast to last year’s season-ending presser, where Loomis vigorously defended Allen, offering historical comparisons to Hall of Fame coaches who started slow. This time, there was no sugar-coating the bitter realities of four straight playoff-less campaigns. While Loomis said he doesn’t regret last year’s comments, he acknowledged the organization overruled his preference to retain Allen.
“I don’t want to get into that other than, it was an organization decision and I’m part of the organization,” Loomis explained.
Crossroads And Cap Concerns
The Saints’ path forward is clouded by questions at every turn. An aging roster, a potential quarterback quandary, and perennial salary cap problems all complicate the team’s efforts to return to contention. Eight of their Week 1 starters will be on the wrong side of 30 if they return in 2025, with six carrying hefty cap hits.
New Orleans is projected to be $50+ million over the cap heading into the new league year. Loomis will once again have to work his contract restructuring magic, but tough personnel decisions also loom. The fate of Derek Carr, who’s set to count $51.4 million against the cap, tops the list.
“It’s not like we have the first pick of the draft,” Loomis noted. “So I like a lot of things that Spencer [Rattler] did during the season. 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.”
Rebuild Or Reload?
Loomis bristled at the notion of a full-scale rebuild, even as he stopped short of ruling it out. “Rebuild … means different things to different people,” he mused. “I think that you can turn around a season pretty quickly in the NFL. We’ve seen it with other teams and there’s a lot of good things on our roster and there’s some things that we need to adjust and fill in.”
Much will depend on the vision of whomever the Saints tab as their next head coach. Loomis is helming a search committee that includes assistant GMs Khai Harley and Jeff Ireland, player personnel director Michael Parenton, and outside consultants Dave Ziegler and Randy Mueller. Several candidates have already interviewed via video conference, with more to come.
“It’s a matter of right fit,” Loomis explained. “I don’t think ‘selling’ is the right [term] … The right thing to do is not try to sell, the right thing to do is lay out what you are, what your vision is, on both sides and make sure that we can have a collective vision. That’s how we’re going to be successful.”
Passion And Perseverance
Despite the trying times, Loomis made it clear he’s not going anywhere. Retirement isn’t on the agenda for the NFL’s longest-tenured GM. Not with unfinished business to attend to.
“I’ve got a passion for the sport. I’ve got a passion for the Saints. I’ve got a passion for all of it,” he declared. “If I ever felt like my acumen or my ability to think and ability to do the things necessary in this job were waning, I’d be the first guy to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute.’ So no, retirement’s not on my mind. Get back to the playoffs and winning football, that’s what’s on my mind.”
As another long offseason begins in New Orleans, only one thing is certain: change is coming to the Saints. But even in this winter of discontent, as he stares down the franchise’s most daunting challenges, Loomis remains undaunted. His message is clear – the Saints will leave no stone unturned in their quest to recapture past glories.
The road ahead is riddled with hard choices and salary cap gymnastics. But brick by brick, decision by decision, Loomis and company are determined to rebuild the Saints into a contender. The first step in that journey? An unflinching honesty about the depths of the hole they find themselves in – and an unwavering resolve to dig their way out.
