Draft Day decision makers: New Orleans Saints

Posted: April 20, 2010

Mickey Loomis has been the Saints General Manger since 2002, after spending 15 years with the Seattle Seahawks. He works hand in hand with Head Coach Sean Payton on draft day. Payton is an excellent evaluator of offensive talent, and this team has done very well in the draft. Khai Hartley is their Director of Football operations, Rick Reiprish is their Director of College Scouting, and all will have a seat in the war room on draft day. They of course will be joined by their full complement of scouts.

The Saints are very aggressive on draft day. With the 32nd pick in the first round, they will get four hours to work the phone and figure out what they want to do. Payton has the final say on personnel, but works well with this group. Loomis is more of a salary cap wizard, and their chief negotiator of all contracts. Payton finds the talent, and Loomis gets their names on the bottom line. These two work very well together and if there is a deal to be made Loomis will fid it.

Over the last five years this team has an above average grade on draft day. In that time they have made 32 draft picks, and they have produced two pro bowlers. Nine of those picks are starters, while 12 more are backups. Just eleven of these picks are out of the league or playing with other teams.