Saints GM downplays trade speculation: 'We're not one player away'

The first round of the 2026 NFL Draft is just hours away, and rumors are already swirling about what the New Orleans Saints are cooking up. Longtime general manager Mickey Loomis has earned a reputation for trading up (especially in the first round) and many of his peers expect him to act aggressively again this year. Actions speak louder than words, but for his part, Loomis is pushing backk against that expectation.

Loomis fielded questions from the media during a half-hour pre-draft press conference on Wednesday, and of course the speculation of another bold trade came up.

"Well, I would say it this way, when you have a Drew Brees, right? When you have that caliber of quarterback, you're always feeling like you're one player away, right? And so, man, let's go get that one player," Loomis reasoned. "And when you have a young quarterback and you're developing your roster, then you're not one player away. So, you're less inclined to give up, you know, a number of assets to get, you know, one player. That's probably the beset way I can describe it."

When asked where he feels the Saints are after their first year under head coach Kellen Moore, Loomis responded "We're not one -- we're not one player away." Even after the Saints went on a tear with Tyler Shough at quarterback, winning four of their last five games, Loomis pointed out that was "a five game stretch, right, or six-game stretch. So I don't want to read too much into that. We're excited. We're optimistic, um, about our future but we're not -- by no means have we arrived anywhere."

Still, there's a lot of smoke to a potential trade up in Round 1. Multiple reporters from different outlets have pointed to the Saints as a team that could vault up the board from eighth overall, maybe even as high as the third overall pick. But that would be costly. Even if Shough showed some good things last season, New Orleans can't afford to mortgage their future by trading their 2027 first rounder to move up this spring. With so many holes on their depth chart, they would be better served by waiting and making all of their picks -- or, you know, trading down a couple of spots to get more swings at the plate later on, if that opportunity arises.