After more than a month of growing speculation that he will be leaving New Orleans this offseason, Sean Payton is remaining with the Saints.
Payton announced in a press conference Wednesday that he met with team ownership and decided he is not going anywhere. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network was the first to report the news shortly before Payton met with the media.
For a while, it looked like Payton was one of the top options who was about to hit the head coaching market. The rumors really heated up when Tom Coughlin stepped down as coach of the Giants, but Payton is apparently not interested in that job opening or any other opportunity outside of New Orleans.
Yes, that also means the fact that Jerry Jones’ plane was spotted in The Big Easy this week means nothing for the Cowboys.
Payton is under contract through 2017, so any team that wanted him would have likely had to compensate the Saints. One report indicated that Payton was in discussions with another team, but many reports since have refuted that.
Drew Brees expressed confidence about a week ago that both him and Payton will be with the Saints in 2016. Payton sticking around makes it much more likely that the quarterback will do the same.
