Saints rumors: Bill Belichick could be next coach, no players-only meeting, open CB tryout

Bill Belichick as next Saints coach makes sense

This one should happen, if the Saints management is bold enough.

If he interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons job last January, surely former New England coaching legend Bill Belichick, 72, would have an interest in the New Orleans Saints. Unlike Atlanta, the Saints have won a Super Bowl (2009 season) and have been a much more consistent contender — three NFC title games (2006, 2009 and 2018 seasons), seven NFC South titles and nine playoff appearances since 2006, all under former coach Sean Payton.

Payton idolized Belichick (302-165 as a head coach) and often quoted the man who set NFL records as a head coach for Super Bowl wins with six, Super Bowl appearances with nine, playoff wins with 31, playoff appearances with 19 and division titles with 17.

The Saints have a coach at the moment, but the thin ice is melting around Dennis Allen in his third season. New Orleans (2-6) has lost six in a row, and things tend to get a little worse each week. The last four losses have been by an average of 19.5 points, whereas the first two were by a combined five. New Orleans is somehow a touchdown favorite to win at Carolina (1-7) on Sunday. But after that, are there any more wins? Or more than a couple?

Even Saints owner Gayle Benson, who usually says very little about football, has been quoted about her team's worst losing streak since the 2005 Hurricane Katrina season.

"Look, she feels bad about that, and she wants to know how we are working towards a solution,” Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said, paraphrasing her, on WWL Radio in New Orleans this week. "We talk about that on a daily basis."

Benson has been the Saints' owner since her husband Tom Benson passed away in March 2018 at age 90. He had been the owner since 1985. Loomis has been the GM since 2002 and has a won-loss record of 46-60 without Sean Payton, who largely operated as a GM while the Saints coach from 2006-21.

"Look, she’s fantastic as an owner," Loomis said. "She is in the locker room after the game, win or lose, and so these last six weeks have been tough. And yet, she’s there every week and concerned. And it makes all of us want to do right by her."

Well, yes. Mrs. Benson could fire everyone. Belichick could be de facto GM and coach like Payton was with the Saints.

"It makes all of us even more conscientious and more determined about flipping this thing around," Loomis said. "We have to coach better. We have to play better."

It would follow that Loomis has to general manage better.

"All of us," he said. "We have to buckle up and we have to do better.”

Saints don't care enough to have "Players -Only Meeting"

Even with six straight losses, the Saints have not had a players-only meeting yet, which among most teams on the skids historically would have already happened. The truth is the Saints still care. They're just not any good and have had an extraordinary number of injuries.

"Everyone understands exactly where we are," Saints veteran defensive end Cam Jordan said Thursday when asked about not having such a meeting. "I feel like when people aren't bought in is when you have a team meeting. Everybody wants to win and still talks about winning. So, there's not a dire need to be like, 'Oh, he's not bought in.' It's a dire need of, 'It's time to prove that we are a winning organization.'"

And the Saints did have a captain's dinner with coach Dennis Allen this week. Jordan, quarterback Derek Carr, center Erik McCoy, tight end/running back Taysom Hill, linebacker Demario Davis, safeties Tyrann Mathieu and J.T. Gray and long snapper Zach Wood were there.

"The mission statement is, 'Whatever it takes to win,'" Jordan said. "Whatever that means. We talked about what's getting across, and we've got to find a way to win."

Good timing with Carolina up next.

Saints will hold open tryouts for cornerbacks

This one is not true, but it may be necessary. The Saints practiced Thursday with one healthy cornerback from the active roster — backup Alontae Taylor. Marshon Lattimore (hamstring), Kool-Aid McKinstry (hamstring), Rico Payton (back) and Paulson Adebo (broken leg) all missed practice Thursday. Adebo is out for the year with his injury.

The Saints signed veteran cornerback Tre Herndon this week, but only to the practice squad.