They haven’t done anything to suggest change is coming, but it almost feels inevitable that the New Orleans Saints will have to dismiss Dennis Allen. He inherited a 9-win team and turned it into one of the least-aggressive and poorly-coached squads around the league, prone to more procedural fouls and pre-snap penalties than many of their peers. Whether the Saints want to admit it or not, this story ends with showing him the door. If they’re smart they’ll cut their losses sooner rather than later.
No one set higher expectations for the Saints this year than the team themselves, billing this season as a return to form with playoff aspirations. Instead they hemorrhaged star talent during the offseason, losing players like Marcus Williams, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Terron Armstead while getting next to no compensation and subpar replacements. They tried to maintain continuity from Sean Payton’s success and instead just look like a poor imitation.
And it all starts and ends with Allen. This team was built in his vision and with his priorities in mind. That clearly wasn’t the right direction to go. So if the Saints do make a move from Allen at the end of the 2022 season, which head coach candidates stand out best in 2023?
Tabbing another in-house promotion wouldn’t make sense. That’s what got the Saints in this mess in the first place. Shuffling the staff and putting someone like Doug Marrone, Darren Rizzi, or Kris Richard on top isn’t the move. We also should assume that candidates the team met with and passed over last year won’t be interested in a second round of interviews — why should they give the Saints another chance? It takes good coaches like Brian Flores, Aaron Glenn, and Eric Bieniemy off the table, but that’s what the Saints get for not hiring them when they had the chance. Still, maybe one of them ends up viewing this as their best opportunity to lead an NFL team and circles back anyway.
Up-and-coming offensive coordinators are all the rage these days, and a couple of them are already building buzz ahead of the next NFL hiring cycle. Philadelphia Eagles O.C. Shane Steichen has a lot of fans, as does his Detroit Lions counterpart Ben Johnson. But more-experienced coaches like Frank Smith (in his 16th year in the NFL, now with the Miami Dolphins) are also out there. San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans is highly regarded and figures to have his pick of job offers, though he may look for a better situation than what New Orleans has to offer.
What about a curve ball? Michigan Wolverines firebrand Jim Harbaugh is reportedly being monitored by NFL teams on the lookout for their next head coach, and he’s exactly the sort of program-builder the Saints need in the wake of Payton’s abdication. And what about Sean Payton himself? All speculation has centered on where he’ll go after quitting on them, but it’s possible they try and talk him into sticking around after his one-year sabbatical. That would destroy the front office and ownership’s credibility and remove any and all illusions that this isn’t Payton’s team (with or without him), but we can’t rule it out. Crazier things have happened, but it doesn’t get much crazier than that.
That’s enough chatter. Let’s break down the list: