General managers play a crucial role for any sports franchise. They make many personnel changes, executive decisions and manage the payroll for their players. In the NFL, it is a big task to be able to handle the salary cap given the amount of players that need to be taken care off whether they make the main roster, practice squad or end up on injured reserve. To be honest, no one does it better than Mickey Loomis himself. He definitely has not been given enough credit when it comes to handling the salary cap year after year. Furthermore, he has become one of the most respect general managers in the league because of this.
Loomis has been with the Saints since 2000 but has held the role of GM since 2002. From the Haslett era to the Payton era, he has flown under the radar as one of the best general managers in the league. He also became Executive Vice President in 2013 while also acquiring the role as Executive VP of basketball operations for the Pelicans after Tom Benson bought the team in 2012. Loomis has been a key contributor in helping build the Saints into a winning franchise, from the hiring of Coach Payton, signing Drew Brees and many other major moves along the way.
On the contrary, not everything goes smoothly in Loomis World. When the Bounty gate scandal came to fruition, he was suspended along with several other staff members for their roles and this would soon lead to a downhill slide for the franchise. Overpaid players, unsuccessful drafts and a stretch of 7-9 seasons have been the low point in the Loomis era. The whole ordeal just changed the complexity of a franchise that had finally turned things around for the better and was going in the right direction.
In recent years, Loomis has redeemed himself from his string of bad business moves. He has managed to keep Brees and several other top players at a happy rate without spending too much on them. The best trait that Loomis has in his arsenal is the maneuvering and structuring of contracts when the team has little to no cap room. What helps with these actions is the culture that the teams has built recently. Getting high end athletes to take pay cuts and converting certain bonuses to make cap space is just unreal. We do not know how he does it, but Loomis makes it happen time after time. In addition, the Saints have had a few successful drafts recently and that is also due to the work of assistant GM Jeff Ireland. As a former Dolphins GM, Ireland has been a major asset in helping bring in top end college players as well as solid role playing free agents.
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All in all, every team wishes they had a general manager that was as a salary cap guru like Loomis has become of late. Hell, everyone needs a Loomis in their daily lives to keep the budget they have planned intact. General managers do not get as much recognition as they deserve but I felt it was time that our own GM got the spotlight. So on behalf of the Who Dat Nation, we would like to give great thanks, admiration and appreciation to Mickey Loomis, who will go down as one of the best GMs in league history without a doubt. Now let’s rock this draft and find some more talent for a bright future.
P.S. – Loomis is also a master with draft day trades. Don’t believe me? Check out the facts.
General managers play a crucial role for any sports franchise. They make many personnel changes, executive decisions and manage the payroll for their players. In the NFL, it is a big task to be able to handle the salary cap given the amount of players that need to be taken care off whether they make the main roster, practice squad or end up on injured reserve. To be honest, no one does it better than Mickey Loomis himself. He definitely has not been given enough credit when it comes to handling the salary cap year after year. Furthermore, he has become one of the most respect general managers in the league because of this.
Loomis has been with the Saints since 2000 but has held the role of GM since 2002. From the Haslett era to the Payton era, he has flown under the radar as one of the best general managers in the league. He also became Executive Vice President in 2013 while also acquiring the role as Executive VP of basketball operations for the Pelicans after Tom Benson bought the team in 2012. Loomis has been a key contributor in helping build the Saints into a winning franchise, from the hiring of Coach Payton, signing Drew Brees and many other major moves along the way.
On the contrary, not everything goes smoothly in Loomis World. When the Bounty gate scandal came to fruition, he was suspended along with several other staff members for their roles and this would soon lead to a downhill slide for the franchise. Overpaid players, unsuccessful drafts and a stretch of 7-9 seasons have been the low point in the Loomis era. The whole ordeal just changed the complexity of a franchise that had finally turned things around for the better and was going in the right direction.
In recent years, Loomis has redeemed himself from his string of bad business moves. He has managed to keep Brees and several other top players at a happy rate without spending too much on them. The best trait that Loomis has in his arsenal is the maneuvering and structuring of contracts when the team has little to no cap room. What helps with these actions is the culture that the teams has built recently. Getting high end athletes to take pay cuts and converting certain bonuses to make cap space is just unreal. We do not know how he does it, but Loomis makes it happen time after time. In addition, the Saints have had a few successful drafts recently and that is also due to the work of assistant GM Jeff Ireland. As a former Dolphins GM, Ireland has been a major asset in helping bring in top end college players as well as solid role playing free agents.
All in all, every team wishes they had a general manager that was as a salary cap guru like Loomis has become of late. Hell, everyone needs a Loomis in their daily lives to keep the budget they have planned intact. General managers do not get as much recognition as they deserve but I felt it was time that our own GM got the spotlight. So on behalf of the Who Dat Nation, we would like to give great thanks, admiration and appreciation to Mickey Loomis, who will go down as one of the best GMs in league history without a doubt. Now let’s rock this draft and find some more talent for a bright future.
P.S. – Loomis is also a master with draft day trades. Don’t believe me? Check out the facts.
Follow Dom Lewis on Twitter @BigFella122
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