The New Orleans Saints still haven’t figured out exactly what they’re doing with their defensive coaching staff for 2022, but they did rule out one possibility. Lions defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant is no longer in the running for the coordinator position with the Saints, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Pleasant was one of the external candidates to win the job under new Saints head coach Dennis Allen. He interviewed for the position recently, after also interviewing for the Minnesota Vikings coordinator position.
New Orleans appears to be going with co-coordinators instead of one. Reporter Nick Underhill noted both internal candidates, Kris Richard and Ryan Nielsen, are qualified for the job and have experience coaching under Allen, who was the team’s defensive coordinator under Sean Payton.
It’s a nice break for the Lions to get Pleasant back. He fared very well in his first year in Detroit at developing young talent.