Sean Payton is leaving the New Orleans Saints. Whether he is retiring to find a home in a broadcast booth or moving on to another team remains to be seen.
The long-time Saints coach stepped down on Tuesday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
The #Saints will hold a press conference today to discuss Sean Payton’s time away and he’ll inform his staff in the coming minutes. End of an era in New Orleans. https://t.co/7v8gr8GW0c
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 25, 2022
Sean Payton is under contract through 2024 with the #Saints. If another team wanted to swoop it, they would need to compensate New Orleans. But that’s a conversation for next offseason. https://t.co/7v8gr8GW0c
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 25, 2022
Payton leaves New Orleans with 161 wins, 68 more than Jim Mora, the Saints’ second-winningest coach. He is 152-89 in the regular season. He is 9-8 in the postseason with a Super Bowl victory on his resume.
Payton spent 15 seasons patrolling the Saints sidelines, and he finished with a winning record in 10. He never coached a team that went worse than 7-9. He missed one season in the aftermath of the Bountygate scandal.
Payton’s name bubbled up over the weekend as a candidate to replace Troy Aikman in the FOX Sports broadcast booth if the Hall of Fame QB leaves to work on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts.
Of course, if he wants to continue coaching there would be numerous suitors.
Mike McCarthy when he sees Sean Payton looking for homes in Dallas next fall… pic.twitter.com/SAUCnNKppw
— Andy Nesbitt (@anezbitt) January 25, 2022