The New Orleans Saints went 6-11 in the 2025 season, but that only tells part of the story.
A new era at quarterback and head coach? A late-season defensive surge led by a budding star in Chase Young? Special teams issues and kicker change? GM Mickey Loomis and head coach Kellen Moore hit all of that and more in their end-of-year press conference.
Hear the full interview in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Loomis and Moore answered questions for about 50 minutes. Here are the top 13 quotes and some analysis for each.
1. Are you committed to Tyler Shough as the starter in 2026?
Moore: “We feel great with Tyler. Tyler has done an awesome job through this entire process. He’s gotten a ton better. He’s taking advantage of a bunch of opportunities. We’re excited to have a whole offseason to build. I thought what Spencer [Rattler] did in the season also is worth commending what he put out there on film, I think, is really good film. He’s a really good quarterback. He’s a starting-caliber quarterback as well, so I feel like that quarterback room has the depth and obviously the talent to be really successful.”
Of note: No surprise here. The Saints made the switch in Week 9 and Shough just kept getting and better and better. The question now is whether the Year 2 leap is a real thing.
━━
2. How do you balance rebuilding long-term vs trying to win a weak division?
Loomis: “I think all of us, every guy with every team, whether it’s a coach or GM, thinks they have a vision for how they can win their division, regardless of how strong or weak you may think it is. So we’re gonna approach it the same way. How do we improve enough to win the division, and we don’t want to just win the division. We don’t want to be an 8-8 or 8-9 winning team in the division. We want to win the division, be dominant and have a chance to make a run in the playoffs, so that’s what our goal is gonna be.”
Of note: This is good to hear, but I'll believe it when I see it. The Saints are in much better shape than recent years, but I think they're still one year away from being able to say a title window might be open. If you're trying to use free agency as a shortcut, that's a problem. Saints should still be focused on development.
━━
3. Benefits of operating with a rookie starting quarterback
Loomis: It’s just easier to manage your resources. I don’t know if easier is the right word, but you have some leeway to manage resources a little bit, but you still have to make really good decisions and, you know, I think it’s pretty well documented that teams that have a quarterback on a rookie deal have been able to do some things and have some success, and so part of that is just building your roster and managing it over, you know, the 2-, 3-, 4-year period that you’re facing and it’s just a different equation, a different math equation, really.”
Of note: This isn't talked about enough. Here's how much the Saints starting QB will cost over the next three seasons:
- 2026: $2.4M
- 2027: $2.9M
- 2028: $3.4M
You can't even find an experienced backup QB for that rate. Andy Dalton is currently on a deal paying him $4M per season. Many other teams have $50M-plus a season dedicated to the quarterback position. That's a $46M advantage the Saints will be able to access over the next three seasons.
Related
━━
4. Thoughts on special teams/coordinator Phil Galiano
Moore: “I think we had a lot of moving pieces there and so I thought credit to Phil of kind of helping navigate that. You know, from a punter battle that kind of went through all of training camp, we made a change at the kicker position midway through the season, [Rashid Shaheed] obviously with the trade halfway through the year, so we did have a lot of moving pieces there, so I thought he did a really good job of helping a lot of young players get ready and prepared to contribute on our football team in the special teams that were a little bit new to that aspect of football. So, are there areas that we want to improve on, get better, absolutely, and that’s something that we’ll do in all three phases.”
Of note: I don't expect much staffing turnover this offseason, there seems to be a lot of satisfaction with how everything turned out. That said, special teams was a consistent and problematic issue all year. By virtue of nothing other than results, Phil Galiano's name would feel like the most likely to change. That said, what Moore said about the moving pieces was true. The Saints went into the year and waived J.T. Gray, thinking Jonas Sanker would be taking on a major role. As of Week 2, Sanker was a starting safety and not in the special teams rotation. You changed kickers midseason, your best returner was traded midseason. It was a lot to manage and Moore made it clear that'll be considered. Let's just say I think the exit interviews will be important.
━━
5. Is a Chris Olave extension a high priority?
Loomis: “Chris is obviously an important player to us and had a really good season, but we haven’t really spent much time thinking about that right now. We’ve had a couple conversations with his agent, but ... that’ll be part of this offseason. I can’t tell you how high it is or low it is [in terms of priority]. I don’t have the whole list yet.”
Of note: I think this gets done, the only question is when and which tier it lands in. The chemistry Olave showed with Shough to close out the season is undeniable and he was top 10 in catches, yards and touchdowns. He proved he can stay healthy through an entire season (Week 18 notwithstanding), I think that's enough.
━━
6. On the salary cap
Loomis: “I feel pretty good about ... where we’re at.”
…
“I think just the volume of things that we need to is really what changes. You know, those numbers, when you look at them at the end of a season for any team, there’s a lot of nuance behind all of it, because you just see a number, you don’t see how many players were under contract, how many voids exist, how many of these balloon numbers exist for the next year you knew all along ... wasn’t going to be their contract, so there’s a lot of nuance to it. But obviously over the last 2 or 3 years, those things that we have to do to get under the cap have diminished and this will be the … lightest work that [Asst. GM Khai Harley] has to do over the last couple years. That’s a good feeling.”
Of note: This is true. The Saints are only $27 million over the salary cap for 2026, but that's chump change for this team. They could clear $57 million in cap space without cutting a player. They won't do that, point is they can. When you can say that, the cap isn't limiting anything you're doing.
Related
━━
7. Do you view patience as a strength?
Loomis: “How much does it help? I mean, I don’t know that I can answer that. ... I probably am overly patient. Sometimes … your greatest strength becomes a weakness, and so I’m really patient, I feel like. Whether it helps or not --hopefully it does, I think it does, but I’ll continue to be that way. Again, we’re excited about Tyler, you’re all excited about Tyler, we’re excited about Tyler, but we have to remember that he hasn’t had 17 starts yet, so we’re going to go into next season with these high expectations, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but we also have to temper that by the fact that … he’s a second-year quarterback and he’s had less than a full season of starts, so we’ve got to keep that in mind as we go forward, that there’s building blocks here and we can not skip any steps.”
Of note: Say what you want about the Saints, they stick to their guns. They have a process for everything and that's how they do it. The Saints will never be at the front of the line to fire or hire coaches, they'd rather be right than first. And as of late they've been right a lot more often than they've been wrong.
━━
8. On how QB competition was handled
Moore: “Spencer earned the right to start coming out of training camp. First and foremost I think everyone was aligned on that. Spencer earned the opportunity and I thought Spencer played some really good football early in the season. I think he gave us an opportunity. We didn’t win games enough, but he gave us a lot of really good opportunities, and then Tyler, he just had a really good vision and plan to get better and whether it was in the classroom, whether it was being the scout team quarterback, his preparation, he was ready if the opportunity presented itself. So I think it was certainly a healthy combination of feeling like we can take another step, we can get better as an offense collectively, but I feel like Tyler, more importantly, I felt like he had taken some steps that he was ready to have an opportunity to play and I thought he did some really good things. There were still some bumpy roads. We played some games that were still hard early when he started. He just kept staying steady, kept getting better and I think he grew as those opportunities presented theirself.”
Of note: I've said for a while now that I believe teams forcing rookie QBs into the action before their ready does a lot more harm than good. Rattler wasn't your traditional bridge, but he did the job exactly as you'd have hoped. Perhaps this season could've ended differently if Shough had started sooner, but we'll never know. All I know is he looked ready when he stepped on the field.
━━
9. Do you sense the optimism from the fans?
Loomis: “I’d probably be in a coma if I didn’t recognize that there is optimism, and that’s exciting. I want our fans to feel optimistic and have a vision for, you know, the same vision that we have for our team. So yes, I do feel it, I’m excited about that, just like I’m excited about our team, but I think one of the things that I do pretty well is tune out the noise. Tune out the noise when it’s negative and I think it’s equally important to tune out the noise when it gets optimistic, too, you have to find that balance and I think that’s one of the areas that I do a good job with.”
Of note: I don't think anyone would disagree with the idea that fans are excited and optimistic like they haven't been since the Drew Brees era. That's great, but it also comes with expectations. How this team fulfills those will tell the story.
━━
10. Have you talked to Taysom Hill about 2026?
Moore: “We’ll talk through all that. … I think for all these players, the goal is I’m just appreciative of their work, that’s the most important thing and the offseason is the offseason for a reason, let the emotions get away from all these seasons and all that sort of stuff, and then take some time and you know, we’ll have plenty of discussions, you know, with everyone.”
Of note: The Saints have decisions to make on three important veterans. To this point there have been no discussions about extensions or new contracts, and that's by design. The team plans to give players and staff 10 days off before starting any of that. Considering age and production, it's hard to see a scenario where Taysom returns, but I'd be surprised if we don't see another season in black and gold from the other two.
━━
11. Assessing the draft assets for 2026 beyond
Loomis: “I feel good about that. I think we’re going to have the opportunity to impact our team and I’m excited about … the draft class that’s coming up, you know, discussions I’ve had with [Asst. GM Jeff Ireland] and his staff, there’s a lot of players that will fit us at a lot of different positions, so I’m excited about that. I think the depth of this draft class right now looks pretty good, and I think we’re going to be in a position to kind of take the best player that’s available that can impact our team as opposed to ah, we have to have this position or that position. Obviously there’ll be positions that we prefer, but I don’t think we’re going to be in a position where hey, we have to get, you know, this particular position.”
On note: The Saints have been holding their picks lately, or at least the premium ones. There have been several trades involving picks, but none Round 3 or higher. They also look like a team that has both tackles and the quarterback in place. That means you can go basically any direction.
Does that mean we finally see that elusive trade down? Loomis (laughing): “It helps the odds, yes, it does.”
I'll believe it when I see it.
━━
12. Thoughts on Chase Young’s season
Loomis: “First impression is that I wish he would’ve been able to play 17 games, because I think … when he came back after Week 5, that really impacted our defense and the way they performed from that point forward was pretty spectacular, I thought, and Brandon Staley and the entire coaching staff did a great job. The players bought in to the scheme and the system and just every week it felt like they got better and better and all the way through the end of the season, so that was impressive.”
Of note: The Saints need playmakers on defense. They need stars. They have a lot of good players. Chase Young is a star player, and he sure like he's just ready to hit his prime.
━━
13. Thoughts on Alvin Kamara
Moore: “Yea, I love Alvin. What Alvin has meant to this organziation has been awesome. He’s come in and has put in a ton of work, obviously these seasons all take different paths and he’s had to navigate injury and so the most important thing for him is just to get healthy and be back to himself and he’s done a really good job of leading this group and providing that leadership, and so excited for him.”
Loomis: “I think, look, it’s unfortunate he got hurt toward the end of the season, but Alvin is always prepared, he’s always a talented, talented guy. I don’t see a lot of difference there. ... I haven’t had a conversation with Alvin since the season ended so I’m excited to have that with him and see where ... he’s at and his mindspace, but Alvin [has] been such an important part of our team for the last, you know, 9 years, whatever it’s been, and he’s a talented player. We have to give him the right opportunities and we’ll see how that goes going forward.”
Of note: Much like Mickey Loomis, I'm uncertain where things stand with Kamara. That's because outside of an interview on Terron Armstead's podcast, he hasn't spoken publicly. If Alvin Kamara wants to keep playing football, it's hard to imagine that happens anywhere but New Orleans.