NFL World Reacts To Bombshell Sean Payton News
The news out of “The Big Easy” is as official as it is stunning. Sean Payton is stepping away from the New Orleans Saints.
Payton had been rumored to be mulling over his future in recent days following the conclusion of the 2021 regular season. The 58-year-old head coach was on vacation last week before returning to the office yesterday, but his status for next season remained up in the air until a short time ago.
Now, with the news that Payton is stepping down–Saints insider Nick Underhill calls it a “retirement”–the focus has shifted to what is next for the Super Bowl XLIV champion.
Many think Payton is bound for a television booth, at least for now. He’s reportedly been pursued by several networks and has an offer from FOX should Troy Aikman leave for Amazon.
Interestingly, some analysts think it’s a possibility that after a year away, Payton will want to return to the sideline with a different team. It seems unlikely that he would jump right from the Saints to a new organization, but every team looking for a head coach right now should at least reach out to Payton to see if he is interested.
Rumblings persisted the last couple months that he could be on the move, either to take time off, or to another team. Still a stunner. And now the TV networks are going to bid on him …
Saints DC Dennis Allen gives the team a natural choice to succeed him. https://t.co/EToYFWmVBn
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 25, 2022
It always felt like these Sean Payton rumors had a different feel than the previous ones. @RapSheet reports that he's stepping away from the team. I've heard Dennis Allen absolutely could and should be considered the front-runner there in the event of a change.
— Conor Orr (@ConorOrr) January 25, 2022
Sean Payton –> Cowboys head coach in 2023? https://t.co/nQl568SeXZ
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) January 25, 2022
I figured this would be of some interest to Cowboys fans https://t.co/kdE2Da0TMV
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 25, 2022
Crazy. https://t.co/ZT3JMlh3LL
— Cam Marino (@MarinoNFL) January 25, 2022
I would run screaming from the #Saints situation at this point too.
— Mike Tanier (@MikeTanier) January 25, 2022
You could make a pretty strong case that Sean Payton was the best hire an NFL team has made since Bill Belichick in New England. Huge loss for the Saints.
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 25, 2022
Sean Payton isn’t someone who just wings it. I would imagine he has the FOX tv gig lined up. Of course, that means Aikman probably has the Amazon TNF gig lined up. Which means that Al Michaels is going to Amazon, because Troy isn’t someone who just wings it…
— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dieter) January 25, 2022
Huge news out of New Orleans!
Any team with a head coaching vacancy has to at least put in a call to see if there's any chance Sean Payton would reconsider for a fresh start somewhere else. Probably not. But still worth the call. https://t.co/WxxEzT77sP
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoSNY) January 25, 2022
Dennis Allen time? https://t.co/9Hfuqu9ua1
— FootballScoop (@FootballScoop) January 25, 2022
Payton took over the Saints in 2006 and registered an overall regular season record of 152-89 and playoff record of 9-8 during his 15 seasons. He sat out the 2012 campaign as part of his one-year NFL suspension due to the “Bountygate” scandal.
Payton led New Orleans to nine playoff appearances and one Super Bowl championship.
The post NFL World Reacts To Bombshell Sean Payton News appeared first on The Spun.
