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Goal unchanged for New Orleans Saints entering training camp under Coach Kellen Moore

Mickey Loomis: 'I think we're always in the mode of, we're trying to win every game'

Jul 22, 2025 at 06:20 PM

John DeShazier

Senior Writer

New Orleans Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Kellen Moore speak with the media prior to the Saints 2025 Training Camp presented by Rouses Markets at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on July 22, 2025.

The offseason retirements of two pivotal starters – quarterback Derek Carr in May and safety Tyrann Mathieu on Tuesday, the day before the New Orleans Saints' first training camp practice under first-year coach Kellen Moore – didn't dampen the outlook of Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis one iota.

"I think Derek not playing, it gives us a chance to reset in terms of some of the financial repercussions that we have," Loomis said during his pre-camp media availability. "But I think we're always in the mode of, we're trying to win every game.

"I don't look at it as a rebuild even though you might say we've got a lot of positions of development, a lot of young players that we want to develop. I'm excited about that. But at the same time, there's always an opportunity for things to fall in place and be successful. We're going to try to win every game.

"We're going to find out where we're at. We have a lot of talent on the team, but we have a lot of young talent that's developing. I think we have coaching staff that can develop young players and put guys in the position to be successful."

The notable concentration of youth is at quarterback: The Saints will enter camp with a third-year player (Jake Haener) with one start; a second-year player (Spencer Rattler) with six starts; and two rookies – second-round pick Tyler Shough and undrafted Hunter Dekkers.

Rattler, Shough and Haener will battle for the starting job.

"There's an excitement about having a new coaching staff and a lot of changes – we have the quarterback battle that we're going to be observing during this training camp," Loomis said. "I think that's exciting, there's a lot of newness about that. And we're excited about how the offseason went, excited about Kellen and his staff and I'm just anxious to get going and see how it all unfolds."

Moore said the quarterbacks will rotate early in camp, each subjected to different scenarios on different days.

"We're kind of in this installation phase where we're really in the install phase going through the schematics," he said. "We'll rotate these guys leading up to the Chargers (preseason) game (on Aug. 10) and we'll make the adjustments once we get out of our first preseason game and go from there.

"These guys have knocked it out of the park from the offseason program to the summers. It's a younger group but they've just done a phenomenal job preparing themselves.

"As we go through this process it's really about the operation, the decision-making and the consistency. Over the course of this training camp there'll be a number of days, and the fun part about training camp is, I think, they're going to throw interceptions in preseason, in training camp, and that's OK. That's part of the process; there's an element of, you want to see them go through a bad day or go through a challenge and have to kind of come up and rise above that. I think that's what this training camp will provide."

Moore said he is unconcerned that New Orleans does not have a veteran quarterback on the roster.

"When a quarterback is ready and he's the top guy, he goes and plays whether he's young, old or anything in between," Moore said. "Dak (Prescott) did start as a rookie as a fourth-rounder (for the Cowboys). He was ready and he went out there.

"So there's a lot of different paths that these guys can take. I think the most important thing is just seeing those characteristics – the consistency, the operation and the decision-making. See that each and every day and it will present itself and we'll make the decision."

Moore said he's looking forward to this camp, which will begin at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center in Metairie before it relocates to Irvine, Calif., for practice prior to the preseason game against the Chargers.

"This is going to be a really fun process," he said. "We've built an awesome foundation over the course of the offseason program. Ultimately, we're going to get evaluated in pads in three-plus hours on Sundays, we're getting closer to that. That's what training camp is all about, the physical components."

Photos: Saints players report for 2025 Training Camp