In the end, it seems, plenty of teams wanted Sean Payton … but not that much. And Sean Payton wanted to get away from the Saints and get a taste of what else was out there in the NFL … but not that much.
Without calling Payton or the Saints insincere in any way, it looks like they decided to stay together because they were better for each other than anyone else would have been for them. It’s been ugly for the Saints the last couple of years, on the field and with their payroll. But as is the case every coach-hiring season, it becomes obvious how much worse it is outside.
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The grass wasn’t actually greener, as much as the team and its most successful coach ever had seemed to drift apart.
That was a massive rebuild the Saints underwent when Payton arrived 10 seasons ago, with Katrina leaving an indelible mark on the city and the team’s long-term existence in grave doubt. Things wouldn’t be that bad at other franchises, but in reality, were the options really all that appealing?
Would any coach who had gone through the grind of pulling the Saints to championship heights want to go through that again with a team that was simply stuck in incompetence? There’s a reason teams have coaching openings: those teams are bad. Even the ones saying goodbye to a Canton-bound coach who got them Lombardi trophies not that long ago.
Speaking of which … the most appealing option for Payton seemed to be the Giants. They just finished a farewell to Tom Coughlin in which amidst the praise ran a thread of discontent and ultimatums about general manager Jerry Reese. If the new coach — Payton or someone else — doesn’t hit the ground running next season, that coach is going to be working for a new GM the year after.
It only got worse from there. Other teams rumored to be in the mix were the Dolphins, Eagles, 49ers and (until their late-night renewal of vows) Colts. And, of course, the Browns are in the market, too.
Eccchhh.
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The flip side of that, though: whoever wanted to pry him loose would have to pay, since he was still under contract. The way the 49ers were prepared to exact a price for Jim Harbaugh last year, and the way the Raiders did when they let the Bucs take away Jon Gruden in 2002.
You can bet that if a team had shown it was ready to hand over enough, if it had made the Saints happy and made Payton feel extremely wanted and valued, that Wednesday press conference in New Orleans wouldn’t have happened.
So if the Saints wanted him more than anyone else did, and if Payton saw the problems in New Orleans less troubling than the ones he would inherit somewhere else … his staying at the only NFL head-coaching job he’s ever had makes complete sense.
And the problems there aren’t unsolvable, as he explained. (For instance: they now appear to want to figure out how to avoid having to unload Drew Brees to fix their nightmarish cap problems.) Payton is willing to stick around to solve them, and presuming a contract extension is imminent, they’re willing to trust him to be part of the solution.
Payton had earned the right to see what else was out there for him. He didn’t have to click his heels together to get the answer, but he did find out … ah, you know the rest.