Loomis didn't pull that out of his rear. Maybe there were some that didn't, but there were some that did and convinced Loomis that he was the guy. And even if you ignore Penning, there are still a lot of high draft pick misses. The later rounds are better, but when you only hit on mid to low round draft picks, you get a meh team.
Personally, I wouldn't mind if Ireland went with him.