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On the offseason: “It’s an exciting time for us. Sometimes, like this year, we have some coaching changes. Obviously getting Sean (Payton) back in the building is a huge deal for us. There is a lot of excitement that comes with the offseason and a lot of work. We look forward to it and look forward to improving our football team. We are getting past last season and on to the next one.”

On the state of the Saints heading into the 2013 season: “I think the state of our team is pretty darn good. First of all, I think we will return to some stability in 2013 which will be good. We will get past some things that happened last offseason. More importantly, we have a lot of young players. We have a lot of returning core players. This last season didn’t meet our expectations and not the standards that we have been used to these last four or five years. We are looking forward to getting back to that. I think there’s an attitude of ‘head down, grind away, let’s get back to playing Saints football and get our record up there to meet our expectations.”

On new Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan: “He has an enthusiasm and excitement to him. His personality is a little different then Steve’s (Spagnuolo). Not necessarily better, depending upon the team, but for our team I think it will be good for us. We are moving to a three-man front defense and that’s what he has done in his career. We are looking forward to some of the changes that he is going to implement along with the remaining staff – Joe Vitt, Bill Johnson, Andre Curtis and some of the other guys on defense. I think we are going to have a good group there.”

On the salary cap: “We are above the cap. I think that has been well documented and we have some work to do but we have known that. We have known where we are going to be and we have planned for it. We have some restructuring to do in some cases and reductions in other cases. There are a lot of different pieces to that puzzle. We have knocked out some of those. We will get a few more done and hopefully it will work out that we are able to keep all of our core players.

“The good thing for us now is that I think we are an attractive destination for players. Obviously with the defense playing the way it did last year we have some things we have to do on that side of the football. There are always things to do on the offensive side. Jermon Bushrod is a free agent this year so if we were to lose him obviously that would create a need for that position. It’s a little bit of a moving target.”

On this year’s NFL draft class: “I think based on what we have seen so far, this is going to be a deep draft. I think we will be able to find contributing players, not just in the first round but the later rounds. Our scouts do a great job of finding players that help us in the third, fourth or fifth round. Even with some undrafted free agents. I think this will be a good year for the latter part of the draft. I know our guys are working hard to uncover some guys that fit what we want to do.”

On how excited he is for the 2013 season: “After 2012, I think all of us are excited to just put that behind us and move forward with a more normal year. I am looking forward to a great season in 2013.”

New Orleans Saints | Mickey Loomis Discusses Coaching Changes, Free Agency and the NFL Draft with FOX-8

SmashMouth

Translation... they are prepared for a season sans Bushrod... and there is talent for the later rounds and UDFA.

lee909

Reads to me that Vilma,Smith and probably Harper better take reductions or they are out the door.

hagan714

i love the off season. they say all the right things. now to sit back and watch

Seer1

Yeah, I read it that way too.

Rugby Saint II

I like Loomis but he's just not as entertaining as Payton. Loomis never leaves me wanting more.

RailBoss

That's pretty good, I guess that's why they pay SP the big bucks to have his mug in front of the cameras.

QBREES9

Thats what I got out of it.

jeanpierre

Mickey...



Mckayla is not impressed...

QBREES9

LOL