Saints G.M. Mickey Loomis: History says otherwise, but I'm not against trading back in first round

General Manager Mickey Loomis has been the Saints' General Manager since 2002 and that gives a pretty good sense of how he prefers to operate on draft day.

One major trend is that Loomis is not one for trading back in the first round. The Saints have not done it during his tenure, but that didn't stop him from being asked at a Wednesday press conference if he would consider moving out of the ninth overall pick on Thursday night.

Loomis said he knows "my record says something different," but was adamant that he's not opposed to the idea.

"I've never been against trading back," Loomis said, via the team's website. "It just appears that way. I believe in our evaluation process, I believe in our grades. And so just philosophically, it's hard for me to say I want to trade back and get a lesser player than I can get in moving forward. So if you move forward, you're guaranteeing yourself — in my mind — a better player based upon our grades. Now, we've got to be right, as opposed to going back and I might end up with a lesser player. And I get that you're getting more swings when you trade back, you're picking up assets and you're getting more swings. I understand that philosophy; I don't disagree with it, they can all work."

A trade back might be particularly appealing this year because it would offer the chance to add a quarterback outside of the top 10 while also giving Loomis more picks to plug other holes on the roster, but any trade will require a partner and the Saints may not find someone willing to make the kind of jump Loomis has preferred to make over the last two decades.