Black Monday is the day where several NFL coaches find out their fates. However, it seems like several franchises aren’t waiting until that day to can their coaches.
It may seem like the New Orleans Saints are immune to this, but after three straight 7-9 seasons it may be the time to let go of their long-time head coach. The next few weeks for this franchise may be just as crucial as it was when the Saints fired Jim Haslett after the dreadful 2005 season.
The biggest rumor going around the internet is that Sean Payton could be traded to another team for draft picks and money. This initially popped up on December 18th, but a lot has happened between then and now. You’ve got six head coaching vacancies, three of which have come in the last 24 hours and more could be coming down the pipeline in the coming weeks.
Who Gets Payton?
The strongest rumors are of course coming from the Los Angeles Rams, with Ian Rapoport of NFL.com saying there is “mutual interest” between the two franchises to trade Payton for some form of compensation. It seems like every year now we end up having these rumors of Sean Payton being traded or fired at the end of the season. This year could be taken more seriously based off of how the trend is going across the league. Look at the Rams; they had reportedly extended his contract a week before he was unceremoniously fired. They may have set a standard that even though you’ve received a contract extension, your future is not safe.
All that being said, there are several head coaching positions that have become vacant and want to see success they haven’t seen in a long time. The Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars would love to have a head coach like Sean Payton so expect these teams to make a push to try and get him if he will be available.
What Would They Get?
There’s several questions surrounding this one, but the biggest one has to be: what do the Saints get out of this? If all of this happens, the Los Angeles Rams will have to give up some draft picks. However, their current draft order is unknown so it can only be assumed that the Saints could get a second or third round pick in this year’s draft and a first rounder in 2018 due to the Rams trading away their 1st rounder last season to pick up quarterback Jared Goff. It’d be nice if they would have an extra pick or two to help fill some needs, but based off of past draft picks, this might give the front office an opportunity to whiff on a player early on in the draft.
Who Takes Over?
Whoever takes over for Sean Payton, the head coach who was able to take this team out of mediocrity and back, will have some big shoes to fill. One of the early candidates according to CBSSports.com is Doug Marrone. The current Jacksonville Jaguars interim head coach will be interviewing for that position, but if he returns to the crescent city he could help Drew Brees make one last run as he was part of the team from 2006-2008 before becoming the head coach at Syracuse. He’s been a journeyman in the world of football with mixed results as the head coach, but if the Saints want him, he will be their guy going forward.
All of this talk could be much like how it’s been the last couple of seasons: all bark, but no bite.
-Clint Domingue