New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis was reportedly spotted panhandling for draft picks in downtown Nashville on Wednesday night, just ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft.
According to witnesses, Loomis sat on a corner of Broadway and First Avenue in Nashville – site of this week’s draft – approached cars stopped at red lights and held up a sign that read “Hungry for NFL Draft Picks. Anything will help. God Bless.”
Doctors at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center said Loomis appears to be suffering from “selection withdrawal,” a common medical condition that is prone to general managers of teams that lack many options in the draft.
The Saints currently only have one pick in the first four rounds of the 2019 Draft. The team traded its first-round pick last year to draft Marcus Davenport, its third-round pick to acquire backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and its fourth-round pick to trade for cornerback Eli Apple. That leaves Loomis with a second-round selection, a fifth-rounder, and a pair of selections in both the sixth and seventh rounds.
For Loomis, who has an affinity for trading high draft picks like they are Snack Packs at a fourth-grade school lunch, that lack of coveted draft picks has taken its toll. This is despite the GM saying he’s not worried about the lack of 2019 NFL Draft picks just a few short months ago.
“We are aware of the reports about General Manager Mickey Loomis and are gathering more information. We have no further comment at this time,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said in a released statement.
In 2016, the state of Louisiana signed Loomis to a very lucrative 5-year, $70 million deal to fix state’s budget that some say stretched him too thin and made him play fast and loose with the draft picks the Saints did have.
“Between the Saints, the Pelicans, and Louisiana, everyone began to think Mickey just has his mind in too many places and that’s why the Pelicans brought in David Griffin,” said an anonymous source close to team management. “Attempting to fix the Louisiana budget is a job for like 50 Loomes with an assist from God let alone one Loomis.”
In the meantime, Nashville Police are reminding attendees to this year’s draft that if they encounter Loomis aggressively asking for picks the best course of action is to keep a safe distance and to keep moving in the direction of their destination.