I have been thinking again about something that came to mind a few days ago. What if Payton is planning on taking Carmichael, and perhaps a few others, with him if he does indeed get a new gig? It would make sense that Loomis would cooperate with him by holding onto them instead of firing them straight out. There's no reason to blemish their resumes with a dismissal. Perhaps they wanted to move on from Roushar and Payton wasn't interested in him. Then it would be best for him to get released and get a start looking for work elsewhere.

In that case I would say Loomis is not acting with the Saints' best intentions in mind, since playing it like that would cause them to lose out on promising candidates to replace those leaving.