It remains to be seen whether the Saints have any plans to make changes to their front office staff, but that decision might ultimately be out of their hands.
Both of the team's assistant general managers in Khai Harley and Jeff Ireland have been requested for interviews for GM openings elsewhere, Saints GM Mickey Loomis confirmed this week.
For Harley, who also serves as VP of football operations and is renowned as the wizard behind the Saints' cap management, his name will be under consideration for the top executive job in Carolina. The Panthers ousted Scott Fitterer after another ugly season that saw first-year head coach Frank Reich fired amid a 2-15 debacle of a season.
Should Harley land that job, it'd make a third NFC South team being run by the Loomis tree, along with Terry Fontenot in Atlanta. Such a hire would also grant the Saints two third round compensatory selection in future drafts as part of the league's minority hiring initiatives.
Ireland, who serves as the Saints scouting director, is under consideration for the GM job with the Chargers, with the team firing GM Tom Telesco and head coach Brandon Staley earlier this season.
Ireland has spent much of the past decade in New Orleans and a key contributor in many of the team's draft successes, though there have also been notable misses in recent years, particularly in the first round.
"That’s what they’re going to do and then certainly our guys, you know, need to prepare and be ready to interview and put their best foot forward," Loomis said.
Both Harley and Ireland have been popular names in such searches for multiple seasons. Loomis also made clear that there is no real request by teams to conduct interviews in these cases because the moves would be clear promotions. Teams can block other teams from interviewing their personnel for things that would be considered lateral moves.
