The 2026 Senior Bowl is set to kick off on Saturday, January 31, from Hancock Whitney Stadium, home of the South Alabama Jaguars. Here, some of the top talents in the upcoming NFL Draft have an opportunity to meet and mingle with a group of scouts, coaches, staff members, and executives hoping to see skill sets on display as they seek the right players to fill voids on their respective rosters.
As for the New Orleans Saints, they will get an up-close, in-depth view of the invited players, with a total
of seven members of the organization in a coaching capacity. In addition to those staffers, a number of New Orleans’ management team are in Mobile for the event, keeping a close watch on players and meeting with local media, not limited to but including General Manager Mickey Loomis. Here is a summary of what he discussed with reporters:
Loomis was asked about the advantages of the team having a full offseason with everyone in the building while ramping up processes, starting with those at the game.
Yeah. Well, look, it you know, the league asked you to submit names of guys that you know would like to you know, coach, in these all-star games,and you know, we submitted a list. You expect one or two to get picked and we had nine picked total between uh the Senior Bowl and and um and the East West game. And it is a good advantage for us because we get some, you know, we get alot of good information on the players that are here that they coach and it’s a good experience for our staff and and good for our personnel department.
Then, the GM was asked his opinion on last year’s draft class and their early success, but Loomis made sure to give a seemingly modest response.
Well, look, that’s a credit to Jeff Ireland and our college scouting staff, all of our personnel department. Look, it’s not our first rodeo. We’ve had plenty of good drafts over the years and um hopefully this last year was a good one. It was a good first year, but let’s wait a few more years before we judge that.
One player participating in this year’s Senior Bowl, LSU product and son of current Saints’ offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, puts New Orleans in a situation Mickey could not recall happening before in his time with the team.
Um but look, you know, Garrett’s a really good player and thought of really well and obviously we think a lot of Doug, so um yeah, that’ll be interesting. I don’t think we’ve ever had that circumstance before in my 40 years in the league. I don’t recall where we’ve ever had a coach with a player in the draft. Maybe we have, but I can’t remember it… So, um, but again, that’s unique. It’s going to be a little different than, uh, we’ve had to deal with before.
The media asked Loomis if there were any specific positional needs that the team would be pinpointing players from the Senior Bowl to potentially fill.
We haven’t finished that process yet and actually all the coaches being here have kind of delayed that process for us um by a week or so. So I can’t really answer that. Not that I would anyway.
Loomis was questioned about his thoughts on the upcoming draft class.
Yeah, look, I think that there’s a really talented group here, just like last year. I think the last couple years in particular, uh, it feels like I don’t know this for a fact, but it feels like, we’re getting a lot more really good players and you know, that’s a good thing. Just it’s more information for us and, you know, we get to do interviews and get to talk to these guys and and, it’s been a really good thing.
Eventually, members at the interview began to hit Loomis with questions regarding the current roster, in particular, linebacker Demario Davis and gadget player Taysom Hill.
Um, yeah, would love Demario, you know, wanting to be back and hope he’s back, but, yeah, we’ll get to that… you know, I’ve given him [Hill] some space, so we’ll touch base with him soon. But, um, you know it’s hard to have these conversations right after the end of the season. You know, you want that emotion to go out of it and give guys some time and space and not feel like they’re pressured to make decisions. Um, and we’ve got time.
Lastly, Loomis responded to those with opinions that the Saints may be lacking explosiveness or a certain “juice.” The GM touched on how to progress with the state of New Orleans football.
Yeah, I just, you know, I think we got a young quarterback and and you want to have a good defense. You want to have great protection up front. Um and you want to, you know, give him playmakers to get the ball to. I mean that you’d want to do that for any quarterback. So, yeah, I don’t think that. Yes, that’s the goal. Absolutely is a goal, but it’s a goal for every team with every quarterback.
If you want to hear Loomis’ full comments and see more content following those in attendance at the 2026 Senior Bowl, you can watch that video here.
