I wouldn’t qualify Loomis as the worst pound-for-pound GM in football. He did, after all, build the stacked Saints team of the Drew Brees era that was an NFC power for a decade-plus. Sustained success is never a small feat for a general manager, and we should appreciate the people who can orchestrate it.

But Loomis has never made his job easy on himself. The Saints are now, and once again, paying for it. For years, they refused to pay the salary cap bill during the peak Brees times, and they never even got that glorious second Super Bowl win. With Brees long gone, Loomis is still recklessly pushing all his chips into the middle of the table, except his quarterback is now Derek Carr, the NFL’s answer to uninspiring Wonder Bread. The Saints were in salary cap hell to start this past offseason, dug themselves out of it, and then promptly gave $13 million to Chase Young, who is notably coming off a serious neck injury.

They might win the NFC South now. Maybe. Make it make sense.

The Saints need to start over to be a championship contender in the near future. They need a commitment to a full-scale rebuild that focuses on youth and a completely clean slate. Loomis has been at the helm of the Saints since the early 2000s. He is decidedly not going to do that because it’s not in his best interest. He will have them tread water while in debt for as long as he possibly can.

Poor Joe Schoen. His turn on the offseason version of Hard Knocks was hardly a flattering one. It made the general manager look woefully inexperienced and, at times, outright incompetent. On the merit that this was a close-up documentary leaving no stone unturned, I’m willing to give Schoen the benefit of the doubt, though. I’m not sure any NFL executive would have come out shining from such a scrutinizing spotlight.

It’s Schoen’s tangible record of work that gives me pause. Schoen’s Giants made the postseason in his first season as GM. He took that as proof that it was time to pay Daniel Jones, a limited quarterback New York has to make significant concessions around him to run anything close to a functional offense. None of Jones’ issues have evaporated, and he will now carry a $47.8 million cap hit in 2024 before the Giants can finally cut bait. But that still means they’ll have to waste at least another year of the rest of their roster’s youth and prime waiting for someone capable to come in and play quarterback.

Then there’s the whole receiver issue. Before drafting Malik Nabers, it would’ve been fair to label New York the No. 3 receiver capital of the world — a melting pot of complementary weapons that can’t reliably beat one-on-one coverage. Darius Slayton and Darren Waller, eat your hearts out. With Saquon Barkley’s departure, to say this Big Blue offense still lacks a game-breaking explosion, even with Nabers, would be an understatement.

At the very least, Schoen has fared admirably in the trenches. He drafted center John Michael Schmitz Jr. and added difference-making guard Jon Runyan. He even lured over Pro Bowl-caliber pass-rusher Brian Burns in a trade to pair with Kayvon Thibodeaux. When in doubt, you can always beat teams by bullying them up front. Modern football hasn’t changed that much. So, there is a semblance of a foundation for the Giants to build upon. I’m not sure it’s strong enough to help Schoen actually launch them off the ground.

Joe Douglas knew he needed to make a splash to keep his job as steward of the Jets. He needed that big-ticket acquisition that would make people excited about the team while giving him job security. When the opportunity arose, he wasted no time trading for Aaron Rodgers. And after the future Hall of Fame quarterback tore his Achilles one series into his debut New York season, he proceeded to become even more of a media headache after the fact.

Douglas threw a Hail Mary to save his job, which might be why he eventually loses it.

Because if a 40-year-old Rodgers doesn’t work out, what can Douglas rely on?

He has had zero winning seasons during his half-decade as Jets GM. His offensive line is pieced together by veteran BAND-AIDs, a big no-no for an older, immobile quarterback. His running mate, Robert Saleh, also looks like he has zero difference-making answers for Gang Green. Douglas’ three crowning achievements might be his two best draft picks: Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and Garrett Wilson. But what good is an elite cornerback on a defense that has to do all the work and an elite receiver on a middling offense that potentially can’t keep its quarterback healthy?

If the Jets don’t win this year, someone will be in ownership’s crosshairs, needing to answer for their failure with their job. Douglas is the easiest and most logical target.

Trent Baalke was gifted Trevor Lawrence, the next supposed generational-caliber quarterback in the NFL. All he has done since is squander that opportunity at nearly every turn.

To usher Lawrence into Jacksonville, Baalke hired Urban Meyer, a hire that looked like an utter catastrophe throughout Meyer’s entire tenure. Armed with another No. 1 overall selection in the NFL Draft, Baalke banked on the toolsy Travon Walker over someone more proven than Aidan Hutchinson. Ask the Super Bowl-contending Detroit Lions how they feel about that Jaguars decision. Baalke has effectively led the Jaguars as GM since 2020, when he started with the interim title. In that time, you could really only count Lawrence, Travis Etienne, and perhaps names like Walker Little as bona fide draft pick hits.

Baalke’s free agency spending and veteran acquisitions have been far less disastrous. Evan Engram, Christian Kirk, and ex-cornerback Darious Williams are/were all solid. Defensive lineman Arik Armstead will probably become another notch in the belt. But none of these guys are core players. None of them move the needle enough to say Baalke has put the Lawrence era in an optimal position to thrive.

Instead of the Jaguars, the Houston Texans are now the AFC South’s actual “it” team. As tempting as it might be to say, it isn’t just because of CJ Stroud’s brilliance.

Let me put this as succinctly as possible. If you still have faith in Paton’s vision for the Broncos, bless your heart. Sincerely. Also, I have a bridge to sell you. Call me when you can.

In all seriousness, Paton’s tenure with the Broncos as GM has been a comedy of errors. The blockbuster Russell Wilson trade might be the worst in the sport’s history. An old-school, no-nonsense control freak of a coach, Sean Payton already looks overmatched as the man who is supposed to fix Denver. Given Payton’s strong personality as the de facto face of the Broncos, I’m not even entirely sure he has to answer to Paton anymore. This is not the kind of coach who would take a backseat to an executive who has not only accomplished nothing but also set the franchise back half a decade with a horrific trade.

The Broncos are hoping Bo Nix is the young man who pulls them out of the muck. You know, the quarterback who barely looks downfield. The quarterback who can’t win an initial starting job over Jarrett Stidham. The quarterback whose overall conservative style plays into the hands of an organization that knows it has to play the margins just to have a chance to win.

These Broncos are a sad, depressing outfit. On paper, they’re one of the worst teams in football, bar none. And Paton built them, for better or worse (mostly worse). When they inevitably falter again, who do you think will be the Broncos’ scapegoat: Paton or Payton? You already know the answer.