Sean Payton is stepping away from the New Orleans Saints, and it’s prompted Dallas Cowboys fans to come out of the woodwork in calling for him to come fix their sorry team. But there’s a catch they aren’t considering: when and if Payton is ready to coach again, any team that wants him must trade for him.
He still has three years left on his contract. Whenever he returns to the NFL, those three years will remain. If a team like Dallas has designs on bringing Payton to town, it’s going to cost them.
We’ll assume a reunion with New Orleans is out of the question. There’s only one comparable situation to an interrupted reunion like this in recent memory, when then-Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians took a year off and came back to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arizona and Tampa Bay completed a minor trade to facilitate that move — the Buccaneers swapped a sixth rounder for Arians and a Cardinals seventh round pick.
That’s significantly lower than what the Saints should demand for Payton’s services. Whatever good feelings and relationships they may share, they’ve got to remember that it’s a business, and ask just as much in a trade for his contract rights in the future as they would right now. If I’m on the line with the Cowboys or any other team, discussion has to start with multiple first round draft picks.
But we’re really putting the cart before the horse here. Payton could very well step away from the NFL and truly enjoy life on the other side. When pressed on his plans for 2022 during Tuesday’s press conference, he said: “No, my plans are not to be coaching again in 2022. That’s just how I feel.”
