It’s no secret that former Saints head coach Sean Payton is planning a return to the NFL, but there are many possibilities of where he could land.
There have been lots of talk about him returning to the Cowboys, where he was once an assistant but this time as the head man in charge, but that isn’t a foregone conclusion. The latest rumor is a little bit more crazy.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Super Bowl winning coach could be returning to the Saints with a new QB this time. Tom Brady.
That’s right; there’s reportedly a possibility that Brady and Payton could team up in New Orleans, and it’s allegedly the worst-kept secret in the league right now. It would be a really interesting story.
Here is what the Saints beat writers are saying about it.
It turned heads Tuesday when Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk cited a source who said it is the “worst-kept secret” in the NFL that Sean Payton will return to the New Orleans Saints if he is a head coach in 2023, but that may not be the case.
Jeff Duncan of Fox 8 New Orleans reported current Saints head coach Dennis Allen’s job remains “safe” despite the speculation.
Nick Underhill of neworleans.football echoed those sentiments, reporting, “it would be a surprise if Dennis Allen is not Saints’ coach next year.
Payton, who is currently an analyst for Fox, stepped down following the 2021 season, prompting the Saints to promote Allen from his defensive coordinator role.
Yet Adam Schefter reported Payton is “so interested in returning to coaching in the NFL that he’s already putting together an all-star staff that includes former Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio as his potential defensive coordinator.”
It is going to make headlines whenever Payton is even loosely connected to the Saints, as he won a Super Bowl and led the team to nine playoff appearances during a tenure that lasted from 2006 through 2021.
Yet Duncan noted general manager Mickey Loomis and owner Gayle Benson “like and respect Allen” and would be acting out of character if they fired the head coach after his first season at the position.
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