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With the New Orleans Saints' season ending a few weeks ago, one big question looms regarding who will be their head coach next season.
According to NFL Network insider Ian Rapaport, Payton has not yet informed the New Orleans Saints whether or not he will be returning as their head coach next season. Payton still has three years left on his current contract with the team. According to NFL.com, multiple attempts were made at contacting Payton regarding the situation, to which they never received an answer.
Payton is currently on vacation, and it isn't the biggest surprise that a coach or player doesn't return calls when on vacation, but it certainly brings up some speculation, given the circumstances.
New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton plans on taking the year off
Many people close to Payton believe he will not coach another team in 2022. Those in his circle don't think this would mean retirement, but rather a year off for a break to recoupe and re-energize after what was described as a challenging, difficult season for New Orleans. The situation will be similar to that of Doug Pederson, who's looking to get back into coaching after some time off.
This past season, New Orleans finished with a 9-8 record, second in the NFC-South. That isn't bad considering they had a bunch of injuries, including the quarterback position where Jameis Winston missed most of the year with a torn ACL. Quarterback Taysom Hill was also sidelined for five games of the season, mainly due to a mallet finger injury. Last season was also the first without legendary quarterback Drew Brees, which definitely set New Orleans back without a leader like Brees.
Payton has coached for the Saints for 15 seasons, dating back to 2006. He is a well-respected coach around the league and has been one of the best coaches in the 2000s. He boasts a career record of 161-97, with a 9-8 playoff record. He won coach of the year in 2006 and Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, and he has made the playoffs in nine seasons.
It would be a bit of a surprise to see Payton leave New Orleans as he's been there since 2006. According to Rapoport's report, Payton wouldn't be expected to coach in 2022 if he were to leave the Saints, so there aren't any rumors out there about potential teams he could join in 2022. This is a situation to monitor in the next few weeks as the off-season and free agency are right around the corner.
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