Sean Payton’s surprise resignation as New Orleans Saints head coach instantly set off discourse that he could finally end up coaching the Dallas Cowboys. Just, not this year, when Payton intends to turn to broadcasting like his old quarterback Drew Brees and see if he likes it.
But all that chatter linking Payton to Dallas isn’t going away. And it won’t quiet down with Mike McCarthy steering the Cowboys from one iceberg into another. Payton has been known as the one who got away from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for nearly two decades now, and every bump in the road is going to raise questions about just what lengths he could go to for Payton to come coach for him.
It’s something McCarthy has heard, too. He addressed the speculation that Payton might end up with his job in a year or two with a lengthy statement, adding that he and Jones essentially laughed it off:
“I’ll just say this about the narrative. It’s a narrative I don’t want to be a part of. I don’t think anybody would want to be a part of it, on either side of the fence. In fairness to Sean, he’s being asked the questions, but nothing good comes out of that. But I think you do need to understand that I get to spend a lot of time with Jerry, both as the owner and as the G.M., and our conversations- as we talk about the partnership between a head coach and the G.M. — those are conversations him and I have: the strength of the partnership, what’s in front of us, short-term plan, long-term plan, obviously, we’ve got some big decisions here to make with our roster, all those things. He addressed it, we laughed about it, I moved on.”
So he’s not sweating this, at least publicly. But another one-and-done finish in the playoffs could push Jones, who turns 80 this year, to pull out all the stops and get the coach he’s long hoped for. Jones and McCarthy may be joking about it now, but this doesn’t feel like a narrative that’s going away any time soon. Let’s just hope that if Payton does return to the NFL the Saints get the best possible return in a trade.
