Neither Saints nor Sean Payton should budge until the right deal comes along

As I have said in this space previously, I would be surprised if Sean Payton returned to coaching for the 2023 season.

None of the open jobs are frankly garden spots.

I for one, can’t see the former New Orleans Saints head coach in Carolina, Houston or Denver, a club that traded its future for quarterback Russell Wilson.

Sean Payton belongs in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago or Dallas. Think high profile markets.

However, if Payton does return this year, the Saints should hold firm on a very high price. It isn’t often that a Super Bowl winning coach, still under contract, is on the market.

Payton has tried to set that market by telling a national radio show that it would take a mid to late first round pick to get him.

Nice try, Sean.

There’s no way Mickey Loomis should ever agree to that. The Saints should appreciate what Payton has done for the franchise (they do), but also Payton should understand that success has a price.

With a mega contract and value comes a lot of draft choices, and the Saints should get three or four of them. If Payton decides to coach in the division at Carolina, that price tag should be at least two first round picks and more.

That’s just the going rate.

When the Bucs traded for Jon Gruden, a coach not nearly as talented as Payton, it cost them two first round picks, two second rounders and eight million dollars.

The Saints probably wouldn’t get that, but they should get the chance to stock their roster with young talent.

If I am Payton, I am waiting until 2024. Jobs will be open, maybe ones that he would really have an interest.

Who knows what happens with the Chargers, the Cowboys, the Bears and even the Jets?

Don’t laugh at the idea of the Jets eithet.

Bill Parcells, Payton’s confidant, coached New York’s AFC team all the way to the championship game.

That’s called resume’ building.

Payton has a good job in network TV. He’s been compensated handsomely and gets to hang out talking about the NFL on the West Coast. With his mug plastered on FOX every Sunday, he’s omnipresent.

Why Sean Payton would coach at an ordinary NFL outpost is a question that only he can answer.

Why choose Costa Rica over the south coast of France?

I don’t think he will, but if he does, the Saints shouldn’t budge unless they are handsomely compensated.