Sean Payton undoubtedly understands he’s probably the hottest current name in the head coaching market. He wouldn’t be drawing out his candidacy, taking his time perusing potential suitors for his services, if he didn’t know that teams were willing to sacrifice a lot of money and draft capital for the former New Orleans Saints’ coaching great.
But according to a report from The Advocate’s Jeff Duncan, Payton might be biting off a bit more than he can chew when it comes to the details of a new contract with his potential future new team.
Payton reportedly not only wants a long-term four-year contract, he wants $20-25 million per season from whoever was to hire him. For context, the NFL’s current highest-paid head coach is Bill Belichick, whom the New England Patriots pay $20 million per year. You know, the same Belichick with six Super Bowl victories as the architect of the most remarkable extended run in pro football history. Payton’s a good coach, maybe even a superb one. But his resume flat-out pales compared to the arguably greatest coach of all time. He might have a measure of leverage, but he does not deserve to be the highest-paid professional football coach alive. Full stop.
And let’s remember that any team would likely have to trade a significant draft haul (per the same The Advocate report, two first-round picks!) to the Saints just to have the privilege of hiring Payton, let alone finalizing any financial details. This would be quite a pretty penny all around for hiring one sideline leader to, say, the Denver Broncos, for example. At the time of this writing, the Broncos have +250 consensus betting odds to bring Payton aboard their slowly-sinking ship but would now apparently have to surrender the requisite lofty draft capital and $80-100 million to do so.
After the early disastrous (and expensive) results of the Russell Wilson trade, would the Broncos really be willing to give Payton what he wants? Heck, would anyone? I don’t know, but I have my sincere doubts they’d relent so easily. Needless to say, such a combination of draft picks, and money would be potentially even more crippling for Denver’s future or another franchise.
I’m now questioning whether Payton wants to get a lead headset again if these are truly his demands. It’s worth noting that Payton — who currently works with FOX as a studio analyst — reportedly makes around $10 million per year, per Front Office Sports. Compared to the arduous standards of a head coach, Payton’s TV role is a pretty cushy job that is, you know, sitting in front of an elaborate table of other football figures to spout off a few comments once or twice a weekend for less than half the year.
Great work if you can get it!
What I’m saying is if Payton ultimately stood pat and didn’t take a head coaching job this cycle, I’d understand. Frankly, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe this means he doesn’t want to leave the lucrative comfort of casual analysis television. Because let’s be extremely blunt: He’s asking for a patented Godfather offer all around to even consider walking away from life on Easy Street.
Once that glorious TV money for minimal work sinks its sharp, lovely teeth into you — it’s kind of hard to let go, isn’t it, buddy?