Sean Payton left the New Orleans Saints following the 2021 NFL Season, and the team has been circling the drain ever since. In fact, the Saints are the last team in the NFL that does not have a head coach, and with reports that candidate Mike McCarthy is going to sit out this cycle, it seems like the veteran head coach is actually choosing to not coach in the NFL in 2025 over coaching the Saints.
For years now, the Saints have endured a tough cap situation and are clearly in 'cap hell,' if you will. They fired former head coach Dennis Allen during the season and turned over to interim head coach Darren Rizzi, who actually could be in line to be the Broncos' new special teams coach.
The Saints seem to be zeroing in on Kellen Moore, the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles:
Sources: Mike McCarthy did not garner the interest from the #Saints that he anticipated — and it’s starting to seem like #Eagles OC Kellen Moore is the leader in the clubhouse in New Orleans.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 29, 2025
McCarthy backs out before being shutout. pic.twitter.com/Noc1OHGeNn
You just feel like the Saints will end up giving this job to whoever is willing to accept it. The team itself is about as poorly built as you can get. They have a ton of bloated, veteran contracts on the roster and aren't doing themselves any favors by kicking the financial can down the road as they have done for years now.
If I was Sean Payton, I would be calling up my old friend, Saints' GM Mickey Loomis, to see if he'd be willing to trade any veteran Saints' players to the Broncos. Payton and Loomis worked together for years in New Orleans and were able to bring a Super Bowl to the city back in the 2009 NFL Season.
It's clear that Sean Payton was doing the most of the heavy-lifting, as the Saints have gotten much worse since Payton left following the 2021 NFL Season. And ever since the 2023 season, the first year of the Payton era in Denver, all the Broncos have done is gone from five wins in 2022, to eight wins in 2023, to 10 wins in 2024 and a playoff berth.
It's clear that Payton has rebuilt this team the right way, and I kind of get the impression that he would not have been able to do what he's done in Denver in New Orleans. You almost think of Payton saw the writing on the wall and decided to 'get out' before it got as bad as it did.
And if that is the case, it was a sneaky-genius move by Payton, who has now turned the Broncos' franchise into a borderline contender.