By Mike Detillier / Sports Correspondent
Since hiring New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton in 2006, Saints general manager/executive Vice-President Mickey Loomis has always used veteran free agency to fill as many obvious needs on the team as possible and leave some room at draft time to pick the best player on the board.
In late January on a special edition of the “Saints Coaches Show” on WWL 870 AM, Loomis addressed the question if anything had changed in that philosophy since the Saints at the present only had one selection in the first few rounds due to trades for defensive end Marcus Davenport, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and cornerback Eli Apple.
“We have had good success with that mind frame to address the needs we feel we can through free agency and where there is always a lot of discussion on picking a need or the best player, we try and go after the best player we can get through the draft that fits what we are looking for,” Loomis said. “Every team has needs because your team changes from year to year personnel wise and there are always positions you need to get better at and this is a very physical game and sometimes you have to replace veteran players because of injuries or retirement. The other area we pay close attention to is our special teams. Games today are very close and so many are decided by who has the best play on special teams.”
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