What's the deal with the fascination with Loomis? (1 Viewer)

[RJ in Lafayette]

I am not a big Loomis fan, but I need to give him the credit he is due.

On an earlier page, gavinj highlighted what Loomis does well. He does hire good people. He does not micromanage. He has established a great relationship with the team owner--and with the team's head coach, who seemingly has a large ego. I am not sure that Payton, at this stage of his career certainly, would work well with a strong general manager like Jim Finks or Bill Polian, who, though listening to the coaching staff, would be clearly the principal decision-maker on player personnel decisions. On paper, Loomis may have the final call on draft decisions or player signings, but he clearly defers so often to Sean Payton on personnel matters that Payton is the team's de facto general manager. However, with the Saints, it works--competent people are given a chance to be heard and seem to be on the same page; at the end of the day, there seems to be a consensus on what should be done; and then Loomis capably executes the consensus decisions with trades and player signings.

My criticism of Loomis is twofold. First, Payton is so aggressive in personnel decisions and so confrontational with the league that he needs a general manager to occasionally say no and to rein him in. I remain convinced that had Jim Finks been general manager 10 years ago, there would have been no bountygate. Second--and this is a secondary lament, but a personal peeve--one of the job tasks of a general manager is to occasionally address the fan base on the state of the team, though admittedly the urgency of this job is inversely related to the team's success. Nonetheless, Loomis rarely faces the fan base, and when he does, he rarely, if ever, answers a question with any degree of candor.

 

[SystemShock]

I kind of like his agressive nature in regards to the cap, but I also find it a very simple concept. Borrow from the future. Nothing more, nothing less. If you borrow from the future and make bad decisions with that money you end up with those three 7-9 years.

"Borrowing from the future" is a simple concept, sure. Just like taxes are a simple concept: you pay some of the money you made the year before to the government. Simple!

 

[WhoDat!5]

There is a rumor on this board that during contract negotiations he sat Jimmy G down, told his agent to bugger off, called Jimmy ‘son’ and gave him all the reasons why he was a TE and not a WR and why he needed to accept the TE contract he got offered. (if I remember all the ins and outs correctly)

great GM

Are you referring to the "Come here son" post by St. PJ? If so, I believe that was him just posting what he would have done in that situation.

 

[bartk12]

Are you referring to the "Come here son" post by St. PJ? If so, I believe that was him just posting what he would have done in that situation.

I know

that was hilarious

 

[St. Widge]

I am not a big Loomis fan, but I need to give him the credit he is due.

On an earlier page, gavinj highlighted what Loomis does well. He does hire good people. He does not micromanage. He has established a great relationship with the team owner--and with the team's head coach, who seemingly has a large ego. I am not sure that Payton, at this stage of his career certainly, would work well with a strong general manager like Jim Finks or Bill Polian, who, though listening to the coaching staff, would be clearly the principal decision-maker on player personnel decisions. On paper, Loomis may have the final call on draft decisions or player signings, but he clearly defers so often to Sean Payton on personnel matters that Payton is the team's de facto general manager. However, with the Saints, it works--competent people are given a chance to be heard and seem to be on the same page; at the end of the day, there seems to be a consensus on what should be done; and then Loomis capably executes the consensus decisions with trades and player signings.

My criticism of Loomis is twofold. First, Payton is so aggressive in personnel decisions and so confrontational with the league that he needs a general manager to occasionally say no and to rein him in. I remain convinced that had Jim Finks been general manager 10 years ago, there would have been no bountygate. Second--and this is a secondary lament, but a personal peeve--one of the job tasks of a general manager is to occasionally address the fan base on the state of the team, though admittedly the urgency of this job is inversely related to the team's success. Nonetheless, Loomis rarely faces the fan base, and when he does, he rarely, if ever, answers a question with even a modicum of candor.

R.J. while I respect what Jim Finks did, it was clear that his era of GM was over when free agency came to the NFL. His take it or leave it attitude toward players and his skins on the wall approach to paying players doesn't work in an NFL with free agency. And it showed when Finks' Saints team started to fall apart with the advent of free agency in the NFL. Finks viewed a team as ownership/administration vs. the players. That doesn't work in an era of free agency when you really need the players and the executives working together to make a better team. I mean, Hebert wasn't a great player, but Morton was, and both left quickly after Finks dug in his heals on free agency.

As far as the not available to the fans part, I"m not sure where that comes from. Loomis is regularly available to the press and does interviews often. He's not a guy who is in the public eye constantly, but he can't be that with a strong personality like Payton as his head coach. As far as evasiveness, it's not his job to tell us everything that is going on inside the team. His job is to have a winning team and being completely open about what is going on is at odds with having a winning team.

And, while I don't disagree with you that I would like Loomis to reign in some of Payton's draft aggression, it's hard to argue with the success that this team has had and part of that is identifying players they like in their schemes and going up to get them. And, I do wonder if that strategy would change if there were more roster spots up for grabs. Part of what they do now is move for players that fit certain rolls on the roster because they just don't have many spots available given their talent and depth. I wonder how different that would be if they somehow lacked so much talent.

 

[WhoDat!5]

I know

that was hilarious

Here is the link so you and everyone else can relive that moment in saintsreport lore. I was mistaken it actually began with the line "Come her son".

Come her son

 

[SaintFanInATLHell2019]

The Pats are in the boat where they could no longer afford to pay their HOF franchise QB.

That wasn't about money. If it were about money, then Tampa wouldn't have gotten Brady at $25 million per year. Brady and the Pats seems to be strictly about ego and freedom. More akin to a teenager tired of their parents and going off to school to be free of them.

SFIAH

 

[SaintsSpringBayou]

He was the doctor to the infamous serial killer Michael Myers (who had the blackest eyes, the devil's eyes). Loomis shot him 6 times! 6 times! Now he works as a GM for the Saints because he got tired of big pharma scamming patients. He's doing okay.

 

[UFCSaint]

This won't end well

 

[bartk12]

Assuming that rumor is true, and I doubt it is because it contradicts all other player reports regarding Loomis' relationship with players, it didn't turn out bad at all for the Saints.

And Jimmy's career all went downhill from there. So, in the end, we signed him and traded him to Seattle so that we did not have to overpay for a player who was mostly a product of Payton's system. And, in return, we got an All-Pro starting Center for 4 years with a 1st round pick thrown in. That pick was unfortunately used on Stephone Anthony (losing Ryan Pace turned out to be an unexpectedly good thing). But, the Satints still came out way ahead on that deal.

Great GM indeed.

It was a made up story by another poster that gave us a good laugh a few years ago.
link to the story had been posted a few replies above this one.

 

[bartk12]

Here is the link so you and everyone else can relive that moment in saintsreport lore. I was mistaken it actually began with the line "Come her son".

Come her son

Thanks for posting. Still funny

 

[Loose Cannon]

Here is the link so you and everyone else can relive that moment in saintsreport lore. I was mistaken it actually began with the line "Come her son".

Come her son

Oh my

 

[Icon]

What a weirdly random offseason gripe.

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

Every year that gets said....here it is 18 years later and that can's still getting kicked. Haha

Yes, put that way I see that my rationale was flawed and I can admit that.

 

[HoustonGold]

The good news is the schedule comes out this week so we will have something to discuss.