You might not have noticed, or maybe you did and are unwilling to admit it, but Mickey Loomis has had a good year. A very good year, in fact.
If there were a Comeback of the Year award for NFL executives, Loomis might have won it. His 24th season at the helm of the Saints football operation was one of his best.
Granted, Loomis ultimately was responsible for putting the Saints in the position of needing a hugely successful offseason a year ago. His ill-fated decisions to hire head coach Dennis Allen, sign quarterback Derek Carr and continue to mismanage the salary cap and roster led to the nosedive in 2024. He has to own them — and did.
While it might seem illogical to praise Loomis after the Saints finished 6-11 and missed the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season, it’s impossible to deny the team is trending in the right direction. And the reasons for optimism are directly related to Loomis’ decisions. His fingerprints are all over them.
His biggest decision — the hiring of head coach Kellen Moore — looks like a shrewd one. Moore assembled a solid staff in his rookie season and displayed a steady hand in the teeth of a 1-8 start. Moore’s biggest coup was the hiring of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, the architect of a defensive turnaround. While Moore still has room to grow as a play-caller and game manager, he has shown an aptitude for improvement, so there’s reason to believe he’ll get better with time on task.
From there, Loomis turned his attention to free agency. He re-signed Chase Young and Juwan Johnson to affordable, team-friendly deals, and both responded with career seasons. He let Paulson Adebo, Payton Turner, Willie Gay and Lucas Patrick walk in free agency, and none of them made much of an impact with their respective teams in 2025. In fact, Adebo — who signed a three-year, $54 million deal with the Giants — was a major disappointment in New York, grading as the 74th-ranked corner by Pro Football Focus last season.
The addition of free agent safety Justin Reid helped solidify the secondary, and while the Brandin Cooks signing didn’t work out, Loomis moved on quickly when the time was appropriate.
Loomis saved his greatest feat for late April, when he deftly managed Carr’s shocking shoulder injury and subsequent “retirement.” Carr’s abrupt and strange decision had the potential to derail the entire organization. Loomis adroitly negotiated a settlement that worked for all parties. In fact, the Saints actually turned out better for it. Loomis’ handling of the situation was a master class in crisis management.
A week later, Loomis oversaw the NFL draft, where the Saints landed Tyler Shough, their franchise quarterback, and Kelvin Banks, their left tackle of the future, along with a handful of future starters and contributors in Jonas Sanker, Quincy Riley and Danny Stutsman.
The selection of Shough alone would have made the draft a success. Historically, teams don’t find starting quarterbacks of Shough’s caliber in the second round. The entire rebuilding plan has been accelerated by this one decision.
All things considered, the 2025 draft haul was one of the best in recent Saints history, exactly what the club needed during its time of transition.
Loomis wasn’t done. He also enjoyed a high batting average on trades. Luke Fortner for Khalen Saunders, a player the Saints were planning to cut, was a clear win. The acquisition of Devaughn Vele didn’t come cheap, but he developed a strong connection with Shough before being injured last season and looks like a bona fide third option in the receiver rotation. Loomis shrewdly offset the lost draft capital from the Vele deal by trading Rashid Shaheed to Seattle. Shaheed’s departure hurt the receiving corps and return game in the short term, but the extra fourth- and fifth-round picks the team acquired are valuable assets.
Meanwhile, Loomis quietly and wisely bolstered the front office by hiring Randy Mueller and Thomas Dimitroff. The under-the-radar moves didn’t garner much attention with fans, but the club’s scouting and roster management have been better for it.
All in all, it was a very good year for Loomis. He didn’t hit on every move, but he just might have nailed the important ones with head coach and quarterback.
Only a few months ago, Saints fans were calling for his head and begging him to retire. When Saints owner Gayle Benson defended Loomis in our November interview, calling the notion of firing him “ridiculous,” many were apoplectic.
True to form, Loomis remained undaunted. He refused to overreact and quietly went about his work. Now, the pitchforks and torches have been stored away, and he’s enjoying the last laugh.
As he approaches age 70, the NFL’s longest-tenured GM showed he still has his fastball.