The New Orleans Saints wound up with nine draft picks during their radical roster shakeup -- including the extra first-round pick they got from the Seattle Seahawks in the Jimmy Graham trade.

If the Saints keep all their picks, it will be the most they've made since 2002.

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But general manager Mickey Loomis shot down the notion that his team is in a "rebuilding mode" after a disappointing 7-9 season that helped spur changes to the roster, the coaching staff and the scouting department.

The Saints either traded or released six veteran players. But they also added six new experienced veterans from other NFL rosters via trade or free agency, among other additions vying for roster spots.

"No, I wouldn't say rebuild is the right word," Loomis said. "Obviously 7-9, we don't feel like that was good enough. Obviously none of our fans feel like that was good enough. So we're looking to improve off of that. But, look, we've got a lot of good players, we've got a lot of good players that were on our team last year. And I think there's a resolve to do better."

The stockpiling of draft picks definitely signals a change in methodology from recent years, though.

The Saints have made by far the fewest number of draft picks in the NFL since 2008 -- just 38, or 5.4 per year, according to ESPN Stats and Information. That's eight fewer picks than any other team in that span -- the result of trades for veteran players like Jonathan Vilma and Jeremy Shockey; trades to move up for draft picks like Sedrick Ellis, Mark Ingram and Brandin Cooks; and the two lost picks in the bounty scandal.

When asked if this draft is "critical" because of two 7-9 seasons in the last two years and the age of some longtime core players, Loomis said, "I think what makes it critical is that we have five picks in the first three rounds. So you want to be successful with that, we need to be successful and pick good players."

However, Loomis said it would be "unrealistic" to expect those rookies to come in right away and "turn your team around."

"We want to hit on all nine picks eventually," Loomis said when asked if he has a target for how many of the nine rookies he'd like to come in right away and contribute. "I think it's unrealistic to expect nine guys to come in and start the first year; it's probably unrealistic to expect four or five as well. Obviously what we want to do is to select good players that we have a vision for that can contribute early hopefully, but that's not the whole story.

"We're gonna to have to wait two or three years down the road before we can make a judgment on how well we did."

Loomis also seemed to further the idea that the Saints aren't in a rebuilding mode when asked if there's an advantage to having a big rookie class. He's not quite ready for a full youth movement.

"I don't know that there's an advantage," Loomis said. "Obviously we like having five picks in the first three rounds because that gives us an opportunity to get some guys that we really like. At the end of the day, your team ends up being younger, but that's not always good either."