Mickey Loomis is entering his 25th season as the New Orleans Saints general manager. Over that span, the Saints have been one of the more aggressive NFL teams in terms of draft trades. During the first 24 years of Loomis' tenure, New Orleans has never traded back in the first round. Oftentimes, in any round, the Saints have been extremely aggressive in identifying their target and moving decisively to get them.
Under Loomis, the Saints have traded back into the first round or swung a deal to pick up an extra first round pick four times. Three of those four deals worked out very well, bringing in Mark Ingram, Ryan Ramczyk, and Brian Bresee. There have been six other times where Loomis and the Saints have traded up their existing pick in the first round. Those deals have mixed results at best.
New Orleans traded their 2003 17th and 18th overall selections, along with their 2003 2nd round choice (54th) to the Arizona Cardinals. In exchange, the Saints moved up to the 6th overall pick and also received Arizona's 2nd round (37th) and 4th round (102nd) picks. With that sixth choice, New Orleans picked Georgia Bulldogs defensive tackle Johnathan Sullivan. They used the second round pick on Georgia offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb and the fourth rounder on Florida State guard Montrae Holland.
Sullivan was a colossal disappointment. He was with the Saints for three seasons, playing 36 games and starting 16, but had a mere 1.5 sacks and 5 tackles for loss among 78 total stops. A combination of weight control, poor work ethic, and reported attitude problems caused the Saints to trade Sullivan to the New England Patriots before the 2006 season. He was cut by New England, bringing his NFL career to an inglorious end. The Saints did get seven very good years out of Stinchcomb at right tackle. He started every game over his final five seasons in New Orleans, including a Pro Bowl campaign during the team's run to a Super Bowl XLIV championship in 2009.
In exchange for moving up to the 13th overall choice to draft Brown from the Oklahoma Sooners, the Saints surrendered their 16th overall pick to the Houston Texans along with a 2006 third round pick. Brown started 13 games at right tackle as a rookie before being flipped to left tackle.
In 2006, Brown was a 1st Team All-Pro at the left tackle spot. He was also a Pro Bowler in 2008 and started 58 games over his first four years in New Orleans. After missing 2009 with an ACL injury, Brown was traded to the Washington Redskins during the 2010 offseason, where he played out the final two years of his career.
New Orleans made a deal with the San Francisco 49ers in 2008 to move up the the seventh overall pick to select USC Trojans defensive tackle Ellis. In exchange for that and San Francisco's fifth round choice that year (164th), the Saints gave up their 10th overall choice and a 2008 third round (78th) selection. The Saints used that third round pick on offensive lineman Carl Nicks.
Ellis wasn't quite the disappointment that Sullivan was five years earlier. He was an All-Rookie selection in 2008, but was just never able to become the consistently disruptive force that the team had envisioned. Ellis was with New Orleans for his entire five-year NFL career. Over that span, he had 12.5 sacks along with 30 QB hits and 18 tackles for negative yardage. Carl Nicks went on to have an outstanding four-year run with the Saints, starting every game of his tenure while earning two Pro Bowls and a 1st Team All-Pro in 2011.
Desperate for a big-play wideout, the Saints traded their 27th overall pick along with a 2014 third round choice (91st) to the Arizona Cardinals to move up to number 20 overall. They used that choice on Oregon State Beavers receiver Cooks, who showed exciting flashes as a rookie before having his year cut short by injury. Cooks went on to catch 84 passes for 1,138 yards in 2015, then followed that up in 2016 with 78 receptions and 1,173 yards. With the emergence of Michael Thomas as a featured receiver in 2016, the Saints traded Cooks to the New England Patriots that offseason.
Cooks has gone on to have a productive 12-year NFL career, even getting a brief second stint with the Saints in 2025. He's played for six different teams, but has six separate 1,000-yard seasons. When trading Cooks to the Patriots in 2017, the Saints got back a first and third round draft pick in return. They used those to draft offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk and defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
Wanting a defensive playmaker badly, the Saints traded their 27th overall pick, a 2018 fifth rounder, and their 2019 first round choice (30th) to the Green Bay Packers. New Orleans was able to move up to 14th overall with the trade, selecting Davenport from the UTSA Roadrunners. It would go down as one of the most criticized trades in Saints franchise history.
While Davenport showed flashes, he was too often injured and was never a consistent force. He was with the Saints for five seasons, appearing in 62 of a possible 81 contests. Davenport had a total of 21.5 sacks, 60 QB hits, and 25 stops for loss as a Saint. His injury woes have continued in three years with two separate teams since his free agent departure in 2023 and he remains currently unsigned. What pains some Saints fans the most is that quarterback Lamar Jackson was still on the board when New Orleans selected Davenport.
New Orleans engaged in a pre-draft trade with the Philadelphia Eagles leading up to the 2022 NFL Draft. In early April of that offseason, the Saints sent their 18th overall pick, 2022 3rd (101st) and 7th (237th) round picks along with 2023 1st round (10th) and 2024 2nd round (50th) picks to the Eagles. From Philadelphia, New Orleans got the 16th and 19th overall choices along with a 2022 6th rounder (194th). On the day of the draft, the Saints traded that 16th overall choice along with 2022 3rd round (98th) and 4th round (120th) picks to Washington. In return, New Orleans moved up to the 11th overall choice to couple with the 19th overall pick they got from Philadelphia.
With the 11th pick, the Saints selected Ohio State Buckeyes wideout Olave. They followed that up by drafting Northern Iowa offensive lineman Penning at 19 overall. Despite some concussion issues, Olave has had very good production. He's exceeded 1,000 yards in three of his four years, including 100 receptions for 1,163 yards and 9 scores in 2025. On the hand, Penning never was able to keep a starting spot. He missed most of his 2022 rookie year with a foot injury, was benched for poor performance in 2023, and was traded to the Chargers midway through 2025. In all, he'd start only 29 of a possible 56 games with New Orleans. Subsequently, the Saints had to use back-to-back first round picks on offensive tackles Taliese Fuaga and Kelvin Banks Jr. during the 2024 and 2025 drafts.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: 2026 NFL Draft: Deep dive on Saints trade history under Mickey Loomis