It hasn’t taken two months for New Orleans Saints fans to begin doubting whether their team hired the right head coach. Dennis Allen’s squad has stumbled out of the gates to a 2-5 start, falling behind the 3-4 records his old Raiders teams achieved in each of his first two seasons back in the day. Everyone from Sean Payton to Mickey Loomis and Allen himself said that he was walking into a perfect situation to compete with a strong roster, but he won more games with some of the worst Raiders rosters we’ve seen in recent memory.
So it’s fair to question whether Allen is the right man for the job. The Saints at least put up appearances for an in-depth hiring search, having met with a number of qualified candidates, only to settle for Allen instead — preaching the continuity he would maintain from Payton’s tenure. Instead, it’s looked like that continuity was mistaken for complacency.
But we’re losing the track here. The story here isn’t about Allen’s struggles (of which we’ve discussed at length), it’s taking stock of the other coaches New Orleans interviewed for the job before deciding they already had a better option in the building. Here’s what’s up with coaches like Doug Pederson, Eric Bieniemy, Brian Flores, and other former Saints head coach candidates: