A Gut Check on Why This Season Could Be a Complete Disaster
Listen up, Who Dat Nation – and I say that with love, not mockery – because Tommy Mac’s got some hard truths to serve up about your beloved Saints heading into 2025. That gut suspicion you’ve been feeling? That nagging sense that this whole thing is about to implode? Trust it. Because everything I’m seeing points to this being the year the house of cards finally collapses in spectacular fashion.
The Triple Retirement Bombshell
Let’s start with the nuclear bomb that went off just as training camp opened. THREE players announcing retirement in a 24-hour span isn’t just bad luck – it’s a franchise-defining catastrophe that nobody saw coming:
Derek Carr retired in May due to a shoulder injury, followed by safety Tyrann Mathieu announcing his retirement on Tuesday, the day before the Saints’ first training camp practice, and tight end Jimmy Graham making his retirement official. Add in tight end Dallin Holker retiring at just 25 years old, and you’ve got organizational chaos.
The Biggest Loss? Derek Carr, and it’s not even close.
Carr’s retirement completely nuked their salary cap situation and left them with absolutely no veteran leadership at quarterback. General Manager Mickey Loomis actually spun this as positive, saying “Derek not playing, it gives us a chance to reset in terms of some of the financial repercussions that we have” – which is GM-speak for “we’re financially screwed and this retirement is the only way out.”
The Saints weren’t prepared for ANY of this. Their draft class was already thin, and now they’re scrambling with a quarterback room that consists of Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler, and Jake Haener – with Haener being the “forgotten man” despite being the longest-tenured QB on the roster.
Mickey Loomis: The Emperor With No Clothes
Let’s talk about the man pulling the strings – or trying to. Mickey Loomis has been the Saints’ GM since 2002, making him one of the longest-tenured executives in the NFL with 22 seasons in his current position and 24 total with the Saints.
Here’s what should scare Saints fans: Loomis has overseen a 205-159 record during his tenure, but the first three-plus seasons of the post-Drew Brees era have been an unmitigated disaster, with the Saints almost certainly missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
The confidence factor? It’s non-existent. Reports indicate that Loomis disagreed with ownership about firing Dennis Allen, suggesting he wasn’t ready to make the change that ownership ultimately forced. When your GM isn’t even aligned with ownership on basic coaching decisions, you’ve got an organizational mess.
And let’s be real about Loomis’s “genius” reputation – the Saints are projected to be about $63 million over the 2025 salary cap, $55 million worse than the next closest team, due to Loomis’s extensive use of void years and restructures. The man has been kicking the can down the road for years, and now the bill has come due.
The Coaching Carousel of Disaster
Enter Kellen Moore, the 36-year-old rookie head coach who is the youngest in the NFL, coming off one season as Eagles offensive coordinator. Moore’s hiring represents a complete philosophical overhaul after the Dennis Allen era, but here’s the problem: he’s inheriting a dumpster fire.
Moore’s major project during training camp will be figuring out who will lead his offense under center, with Jake Haener, Spencer Rattler and second-round pick Tyler Shough entering a three-way quarterback competition. The fact that they’re talking about possibly having the first Saints rookie to start Week 1 since Archie Manning in 1971 tells you everything about their QB desperation.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Saints Recent Record
Here’s the brutal truth about Saints performance over the last five years:
- 2024: 5-12 (.294 winning percentage) – Complete disaster
- 2023: 9-8 (.529 winning percentage) – Missed playoffs again
- 2022: 7-10 (.412 winning percentage) – Below .500
- 2021: 9-8 (.529 winning percentage) – Missed playoffs
- 2020: 12-4 (.750 winning percentage) – Last good season
Five-year average: 8.4-11.6 (.420 winning percentage)
That’s not mediocre – that’s genuinely bad football. And 2020 feels like a lifetime ago now.
Gayle Benson: Owner in Denial
Gayle Benson became owner following her husband Tom Benson’s death in March 2018, after Tom had owned the Saints since 1985. She’s been in charge for six seasons now, and here’s what’s concerning: despite the Saints’ recent struggles and third consecutive season missing the playoffs, the organization has maintained an overly optimistic public face.
Benson has already announced succession plans that include selling both teams after her death, with proceeds going to charity, and stipulating that the Saints must stay in New Orleans. While that’s admirable, it suggests an owner who’s already thinking about the long-term legacy rather than the immediate on-field crisis.
Fan Base Temperature: From Boiling to Nuclear
The Who Dat Nation is reaching its breaking point. This franchise built its identity on the post-Katrina miracle run and the 2009 Super Bowl, but that feels like ancient history now. Four straight years without playoffs in a sport where half the league makes it? That’s organizational incompetence.
The bag head days of the 1980s and early 1990s are starting to feel like a real possibility again. Back then, Saints fans literally wore paper bags over their heads to games out of embarrassment. We might be heading back there fast.
Vegas Knows What’s Coming
The betting markets are telling the story loud and clear:
- Win Total: 5.5 (Under heavily favored at -150)
- Super Bowl Odds: +30000 (tied for worst in the NFL)
- Playoff Odds: +550 (basically a long shot)
- NFC South Odds: +1300 (distant fourth in their own division)
The Saints’ 5.5 win total dropped from 6.5 after Derek Carr’s retirement, and they have the poorest Super Bowl odds in the entire NFL as of July 2025.
When Vegas is basically writing off your entire season before it starts, that should tell you everything.
The Perfect Storm
Here’s why this feels different than previous down years:
- No veteran leadership at the most important position
- Financial disaster due to years of cap manipulation
- Organizational dysfunction between GM and ownership
- Rookie head coach learning on the job with no margin for error
- Fan base exhaustion after four years of mediocrity
Court of Three Sisters, Here We Come
Can you reserve that table at Court of Three Sisters for Sunday morning brunch before the games? Absolutely. Because at this point, you’re probably better off enjoying the greatest breakfast in New Orleans than watching what’s likely to be a painful season unfold at the Superdome.
This isn’t me rooting against the Saints – I love New Orleans, I love the passion of the fan base, and I respect what this franchise meant to the city after Katrina. But sometimes you have to call it like you see it, and what I see is a franchise that’s about to find out just how far and how fast you can fall in the NFL.
The Saints had their magical run. They got their Super Bowl. They gave the city something to believe in when it needed it most. But that was 15 years ago, and championships don’t last forever. Neither do the smart decisions that created them.
Bottom line: Trust your gut, Saints fans. This season has disaster written all over it, and Mickey Loomis’s chickens are finally coming home to roost.
Even if Pete Fountain and Al Hirt are long gone, there’s no place like New Orleans. But there might not be much Saints football worth watching either.
Tommy Mac’s 2025 Saints Prediction: 4-13, dead last in NFC South, coaching change by Week 12.
You heard it here first.
