The New Orleans Saints holding on to the Sean Payton era has been a common criticism when discussing the team’s direction in recent years, as well as their ongoing coaching search. After Payton, they hired in-house with Dennis Allen. The Saints’ favorite in this cycle is widely assumed to be Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who was on the Saints’ staff from 2015 to 2020.
When asked about the potential bias in this connection, but not Glenn specifically, Loomis told reporters on Monday that, “I don’t know that I would agree with that. I understand the connection between Sean and Dennis, but we had a lot of different staff changes, coaching changes.”
Loomis pointed to Dan Campbell and Payton as leading the Lions and Denver Broncos to two of the best turnarounds recently, commenting, “Both of those staffs are pretty well-connected to New Orleans, so I’m not sure what the criticism would be.”
In other words, he sees it as a system that works so why cut it out of our search? It’s clear Loomis views that period of time fondly, and who can blame him? The problem becomes chasing a recreation. While Loomis views experience working in the building and under Payton as a strength, he says it isn’t a necessity: “We’re going to get the best candidate we can, whether they have a history with us or not.”
It’s a statement that reflects an expansive search instead of another type of limitation. We’ll see if it bears fruit.