Saints Mailbag: Running & Stopping the Run, Loomis a Failure?

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From Saints On SI Mailbag from Doug from NOLA: Has Mickey Loomis had any successful draft picks or signings in the past 7 years? Is he the worst remaining GM in the league?

Like any general manager (or human being, for that matter), Saints GM Mickey Loomis has had his good years and his bad years.

2006: Reggie Bush, Roman Harper, Jahri Evans
2008-2010: Thomas Morstead, Jimmy Graham
2011-2024: Cam Jordan, Terron Armstead, Brandin Cooks, Kenny Vaccaro
2016-2017: Michael Thomas, Marson Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Alvin Kamara, Trey Hendrickson
2019-2024: Erik McCoy, Chris Olave, Taliese Fuaga

Then there were the misses:

2003: Jonathan Sullivan
2004: Courtney Watson
2008: Sedrick Ellis
2010: Stanley Jean-Baptiste, Ian Book, Charles Brown
2015: Stephone Anthony
2018: Marcus Davenport

More than anything, Loomis has finagled the Saints salary cap and sometimes has gone against what is considered the common way of handling cap restraints by "kicking the can down the road" with their due dates. Sooner or later that catches up with you.

As a general manager, Loomis has the trust (as of this writing) of both owner Gayle Benson and club president Dennis Lauscha. That could change, but we don't see that happening, as both consider Loomis an asset to the organization.

From the Saints On SI Mailbag, from Chris (and a similar one from Warlock): Everyone knows that the Saints can’t run the ball or stop the run. What can they do now to fix these issues?

We actually talk about this partly in our column today, the synopsis being we think the offensive run game will be simplified to get the most out of the linemen there. Read more about it in that link. With the dismissal of TJ Paganetti as run game coordinator, it seems like that would be the most logical way to go: simplicity breeds better techniques. We'll have to see how that progresses.

As for the defensive side, having run stoppers absent from the lineup, i.e. Bryan Bresee, has not helped. Though there are plenty of bodies in the middle to stop the run. They just haven't produced.

Except for the Giants game, the Saints run defense has scored poorly in the Pro Football Focus (PFF) grading system. Their lowest was against the Falcons with a paltry 29.4 grade. Their best was against the New York Giants with a much better 77.9. That grade in the 70s was the only time the Saints D has scored that high this season in rush defense. It's been mostly in the 40s and 50s this year.

Though Chase Young has been a beast as a pass rusher, he has been weakest against the run with a 57.0 for the year, but that is pretty good compared to his compatriots along the front. Defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd is at a lowly 27.9 in run defense in the four games he's played, one of the lowest run defense scores on the team. Fellow lineman Davon Godchaux is at a 40.9 against the run with another D-lineman Vernon Broughton at 46.4.

These gentlemen are either in the wrong position or cannot get themselves into the correct spots to begin with. Either of those deficiencies will lead to the Saints giving up the rushing yardage they have this year, and neither incorrect positioning or not getting to the correct space is where this team needs to be.

This could be a coaching issue (that's directed to Warlock's question, mostly), but it could also be that these men do not play well against the rush.

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