Saints’ GM confident with team’s direction|[5/11/05]
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Amid a sea of young autograph hounds, hardly anyone spoke or wanted an autograph of arguably the most important member of the New Orleans Saints’ entourage that visited Vicksburg Tuesday.
Standing near the doorway was the teams general manager, Mickey Loomis.
“Mickey likes it that way, staying behind the scenes,” said Heather Metzinger, the regional marketing and promotions supervisor for the Saints. “He knows the fans want to see the players.”
Yet in the eyes of the late “Buddy D” Diliberto, no one, not even head coach Jim Haslett, has had more to do with the team’s up-and-down nature of four playoff-less seasons than Loomis.
But Loomis quickly interjected during an interview, that he is not the owner, and the future of the Saints in New Orleans rests with Tom Benson and the state government of Louisiana.
“That deal is with Mr. Benson and the state of Louisiana. My and Jim’s deal is with the football operations of the Saints,” Loomis said. “Our focus is on the field. I can say, that both Jim and I love New Orleans. We want to stay in this region.”
As for the on-the-field product, Loomis said he was pleased with the way his newest class of Saints draft picks and free agents looked during a minicamp last weekend.
“We had our rookie minicamp for our draft picks and free agents. It went well with the exception of the knee injury to Chase Lyman, our fourth round pick. He tore his ACL. We’ve just got to see what happens after his surgery,” Loomis said.
The Saints’ top pick, Oklahoma offensive tackle Jammal Brown, looked impressive.
“As good as we could hope for,” Loomis said.
Perhaps Loomis’ biggest draft gamble came with the fifth round selection of former Florida State quarterback Adrian McPherson.
“He’s a project,” Loomis said. “He had all of six games at Florida State and one season of Arena League. But I’m really excited that he can come in behind Aaron Brooks and learn from an elite athlete in our league.”
Loomis is also banking on that the Saints can get a lift from their four-game winning streak that closed out their 8-8 2004 season.
“The fact that our defense was much better in that streak, I think, will be the biggest carry over into this season,” Loomis said. “We started to protect the ball on offense better and that had a carry-over effect on defense.”
Following this week of caravan tours, the work towards next fall begins in earnest.
“Our whole team will be back together starting on Monday when we begin our coaching sessions,” Loomis said.