{"id":714914,"date":"2026-01-29T21:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/714914\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:41:13","slug":"how-the-saints-are-using-the-senior-bowl-to-their-advantage-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/714914\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Saints are using the Senior Bowl to their advantage | Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOBILE, Ala. \u2014 Joel Thomas called plays at the Senior Bowl<\/a> last year, so when the chance arose to be involved in this year\u2019s game, the New Orleans Saints running backs coach knew he wanted to participate again.<\/p>\n

But this time, the opportunity came with a promotion. Thomas jumped at the chance to be the head coach of one of the two teams participating in the college prospect all-star event.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Last year was) the first time I\u2019ve ever called plays,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cSo you get that itch.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as he\u2019s gone through Senior Bowl week, Thomas has seen an even greater benefit to coaching in the game \u2014 one that extends beyond his personal ambitions. He knows that this week is extremely valuable for the Saints, too.<\/p>\n

In addition to Thomas serving as the head coach of the American team, Saints quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien (offensive coordinator), linebackers coach Peter Sirmon (defensive coordinator) and special-teams assistant Kyle Wilber (special-teams coordinator) are contributing in key roles on Thomas\u2019 staff.<\/p>\n

The hope \u2014 and perhaps belief \u2014 is that getting the chance to actually coach the prospects in this year\u2019s Senior Bowl will serve as an advantage come April when the Saints are tasked with following up last year\u2019s successful draft class with another transformative haul.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more knowledge we get, that knowledge is power,\u201d said Jeff Ireland, the Saints\u2019 assistant general manager and college scouting director. \u201cThe more knowledge we have, the more comfortable we are in our conviction that we have as a staff collaboratively to take the player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ireland said nothing significantly changed about the team\u2019s process that ended with last year\u2019s haul. But the reality is the Saints had arguably their best draft since 2017, coming away with potential cornerstones at quarterback (Tyler Shough) and left tackle (Kelvin Banks Jr.) and at least two defensive starters (Quincy Riley, Jonas Sanker). ESPN ranked the Saints as having the league\u2019s most impactful draft class in 2025.<\/p>\n

But if there was one significant difference, it was the Saints\u2019 new coaching staff. Ireland praised the group \u2014 led by first-year coach Kellen Moore \u2014 as having a \u201cgreat vision\u201d on what type of player would fit their roster. That vision also changed because of the new scheme in place. Ireland, for instance, noted edge rushers in defensive coordinator Brandon Staley\u2019s defense don\u2019t need to be nearly as big and powerful as what former coach Dennis Allen preferred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clearer the vision of what they can give to us, the better we can go out and find it,\u201d Ireland said. \u201cThey were very clear in what they wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senior Bowl may help further develop that vision. While the Saints\u2019 coaches have preconceived preferences for what they want in a player, this week allows those participating to get an up-close look at prospects. Rather than spending 20 minutes with a player in a formal interview, members of the Saints staff have this week to see how they react in various settings, Thomas said.<\/p>\n

And the Saints will trust their coaches. Ireland said he and his scouts are focused largely on the National team, since they will refer back to the insights Thomas and Co. gleaned from coaching the American squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a good advantage for us, because we get a lot of good information on the players that are here,\u201d said Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who noted New Orleans has nine assistants participating between the Senior Bowl and the recently concluded East-West Shrine Bowl.<\/p>\n

If they hit as well as they did last year on another draft, Ireland knows the difference it could make. On Wednesday, the executive was asked about the leap the New England Patriots made from going 4-13 in 2024 to 13-4 in 2025 with a Super Bowl appearance on tap. Like New Orleans will have next year, the Patriots had a promising quarterback (Drake Maye) entering Year 2. And that offseason, the Patriots found the right pieces to support him.<\/p>\n

Does Ireland see a parallel between the situations?<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I hope so,\u201d Ireland said. \u201cThat\u2019d be great. That\u2019d be fantastic. I\u2019d be lying if I wasn\u2019t thinking it already.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOBILE, Ala. \u2014 Joel Thomas called plays at the Senior Bowl last year, so when the chance arose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,4095,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-714914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-hardwall","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115980565534980741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}