Bleacher Report Gives Saints GM Mickey Loomis a B+ Grade

Bleacher Report recently graded all NFL General Manager’s for their 2017 offseason thus far. New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis graded out with a solid B+ for his work in free agency and the 2017 NFL Draft:

The secondary trotted out by the New Orleans Saints in 2016 often put up less resistance than a gentle breeze.

They allowed a league worst average of 273.8 passing yards per game. Quarterback Drew Brees likely doesn't have many more high-performance years left, and another one was wasted by that floundering pass defense. The Saints needed a quick course correction, and they should get it from cornerback Marshon Lattimore.

The former Ohio State standout somehow fell outside of the top 10 in the draft. The Saints gladly scooped him up at No. 11, and he'll be instantly installed as a shutdown presence. Lattimore intercepted four passes in 2016 while posting a passer rating in coverage of only 30.2, per PFF.

While the defense got plenty of help with Lattimore in the Draft, re-signing DT Nick Fairley, and free agent acquisitions like Alex Okafor and A.J. Klein, the Saints work on offense also got some attention:

In the draft New Orleans also fortified its offensive line by grabbing tackle Ryan Ramczyk in the second round. He could make 33-year-old right tackle Zach Strief a cap casualty.

And in the third round running back Alvin Kamara was the perfect fit for a Sean Payton offense. He can play the Reggie Bush role, as Kamara is a reliable receiver who creates yards after the catch. He finished with 683 receiving yards out of the backfield over two years at Tennessee.

The annually cap-poor Saints didn't have room for any major cannonballs in the free agency pool. But they did bring aboard Ted Ginn at an affordable price. He may have drop issues, but Ginn can still get deep in a hurry. And as far as free-agency fliers go, taking on Adrian Peterson—one of the best running backs of all time—is a low risk and high reward play for a team that didn't have much money to work with.

The Saints got the lowest GM grade in the NFC South, with the Panthers, Falcons and Buccaneers all getting “A” or “A-” grades, but it’s hard to really say that Mickey Loomis and Co. have done a bad job this offseason, in what was definitely an important year for Loomis’s future in New Orleans.