Two words could best describe the mindset of GM Mickey Loomis and the New Orleans Saints on the eve of the 2026 NFL draft: Consistent ... and realistic.
Brought to you by TRANESOUTH: It's hard to stop a TraneThe Saints enter draft weekend with eight picks, including No. 8 and No. 42 overall, and fresh off a fifth straight season of missing the postseason bracket. The difference this time around is the team, due in part to necessity, finally leaned into a youth movement in 2025. Despite a 6-11 record, four wins in the final five games and the optimism surrounding young starting QB Tyler Shough has created a palpable level of excitement for the future. Still, Loomis made it clear he's still playing the long game, and that will likely be mirrored in the team's draft philosophy.
"When you have a Drew Brees ... that caliber of quarterback, you’re always feeling like you’re one player away, and so, man, let’s go get the one player," Loomis said. "And when you have a young quarterback and you’re developing your roster, then you’re not one player away, so you’re less inclined to give up a number of assets to get one player."
We'll have to wait until Thursday before we find out if that's reality or just a smokescreen. Scroll below for more takeaways from Mickey Loomis' pre-draft press conference.
1. TRADE PHILOSOPHY ... NOT CHANGING
Every year about this time Loomis sits in a room with reporters and jokes that he has no issue with trading back in the right situation, and perhaps this is the year when that finally happens. Spoiler: It never happens.
The Saints haven't traded down in nearly 20 years, but they're frequently involved in deals heading the other direction, trusting their scouting and making sure they get their targets. Being in a rebuild phase won't change that.
"We’re going to approach this the same way," Loomis said.
It's not complicated when it comes to trading up. You love a player, you go get him. But Loomis did offer some free insight into what it'd take to move down -- and also a clear image of why it doesn't happen.
“The scenarios would be, OK, we’re at pick 8 and we’ve got four guys that we love, and so we could go back to as far as 12. If there’s two that we love, then we could only go back two spots, or someone comes in and says we’ll give you three first-round picks to move, we have to do that, so it’s either or," Loomis said, "but I’m not someone that wants to trade just to have a transaction.”
Let's put the Godfather offer off to the side, since that's pretty self-explanatory. Assuming a team is offering historically even value based on past trades and value charts, what Loomis is saying there is that any trade back would have to fit the draft board. If, say, there was a group of players all graded in the same range -- let's call it an A -- and a trade back would still guarantee you can get that a player in that group, a deal can be made. If a trade back would mean dropping out of that range and landing a player with a lower grade -- say a B-plus -- then it's a no-go.
The concept is probably the most clear disconnect between the Saints and everyone else. Most people would consider the added value from the trade (extra picks or a player) as being worth the drop to a lower tier of the Saints' draft board. The Saints do not view it that way. With such a pigeonholed philosophy on what a trade back could be, it's not hard to understand why it so rarely happens.
It's worth noting that the Saints didn't execute a single trade in the 2025 draft, a rarity in itself. It was the first time in 12 years they didn't swing at least one deal, and came away with one of their most impactful classes in the NFL. Perhaps that's a sign of some shifting philosophies, but we'll have to wait and see.
2. TRADE TALKS HAVE ALREADY STARTED
Get ready for the annual "Saints are one of the teams calling around on potential trades" post we get from insiders the morning of every draft. It's always the case and it's always true.
Why? Because that's just what the Saints do. They make calls, assess prices and go from there. It's not necessarily about having a higher inclination to trade than any other year, but if they do opt for the trade route, they want all the intel possible.
Loomis said as of noon Wednesday he'd already heard from multiple teams with queries about potentially trading in both directions, and regarding multiple of the Saints' picks.
"It remains to be seen how much of that activity occurs, but I wouldn’t say it’s a lot different than the past," Loomis said. "But again, picking in the top 10 is a different … thing than picking in the middle or the back half of the round. You get fewer calls when you’re back there.”
The bulk of the trade chatter will be Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but the framework of any deal hammered out will also be contingent on how the draft goes.
“You’re not trading up for the spot, you’re trading up for a player," Loomis continued, "and so it’s always, OK, is the player available.”
3. OUTLOOK FOR JORDAN AND KAMARA?
The Saints have maintained all offseason that there's been no resolution in either direction for a pair of veterans in DE Cam Jordan and RB Alvin Kamara.
Jordan is a free agent, while Kamara is under contract, but the team did rework AK's deal to create flexibility if he was off the roster next season. The door is not closed for either to come back, but Loomis did confirm that the results of this week's draft could make a difference in the ultimate result.
“I think that [the draft] could impact it," Loomis said. "You know, we’ll see what happens, and that goes both ways, it could impact them, from their perspective as well as ours.”
He went on to add: “Those are two-way questions, right. They have things that they have to determine and we do, too, so we’ll see what happens after the draft.”
While still vague, this is the first time we've heard a Saints official confirm that there is legitimate uncertainty around Kamara's future in New Orleans. In the end it'll be easy enough to keep score. The only way the draft could impact those players is if the Saints add new names at their positions. It will be more significant if that happens early. If the Saints add a Day 2 running back to an already crowded room, that'll likely be an indicator that Kamara won't be back. I'd say the scenario is similar for defensive end.
4. NOT SEEKING OUTLIERS
A topic that comes up every year around draft time: What does the league do with highly productive college players that don't measure up perfectly for their respective positions?
Does the video tape outrank the measuring tape, or vice versa. The past two years we've seen a pair of players face short-arm questions. LSU's Will Campbell faced them in 2025 but still went No. 4 overall to the Patriots. This year it's Miami's Rueben Bain who measured in at the combine with arms more than an inch shorter than the minimum teams look for (32 inches).
Loomis spoke to how he assesses those situations.
“I think how the guy plays always overrides everything, so let’s start with that," Loomis said. "But I do think this, we’ve got a lot of data that tells us what plays in the NFL ... and we have some measurements that we can look at and say man, that’s an outlier. We’re not looking for outliers. ... I’ve said this over the years, if we are looking for exceptions then we’re not going to be here very long, because exceptions are exceptions, so we’re not looking for exceptions, but we recognize that there are exceptions, so if someone has some traits that don’t match what plays in the NFL, then we’ve better have some other things that tell us that he can overcome that.”
Loomis went on to describe the Saints' philosophy as being among the more "risk averse" in the NFL, and they've typically valued ideal measurables highly. The risk becomes greater the higher a team is sitting in the draft because of the caliber of players available.
Bain has landed all over the first round in mock drafts to this point, but he could certainly be available at No. 8. The Saints' dedication to ideal measurables could be put to the test.
5. NUSS AND NUSS
When we spoke to Garrett Nussmeier at LSU's pro day, he indicated that his draft watch party would be in New Orleans so that his father, Doug, could potentially sneak away and be with him when Garrett's name was called. Turns out he'll be able to do a lot more than that.
The Saints OC is being allowed to take in the draft with Garrett rather than be in the Saints' war room.
“I advise him to spend [the draft] with Garrett," Loomis said. "It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The Saints GM added that Doug will be available and his input is valued, though most questions have already been answered by this stage. Garrett is expected to be a Day 2 selection.
