On Thursday, Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports dropped an interesting report that stated the Carolina Panthers are eyeing Sean Payton as their next head coach.
Payton, who stepped down from his role with the New Orleans Saints in January, reportedly has TV offers from Amazon and Fox Sports. However, he could potentially return to the sidelines to coach an NFL team at some point in the future.
If Payton does coach again, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport isn’t so sure it’ll be in Carolina.
“It seems really far-fetched because if you’re the Saints, Payton is under contract. When he coaches next, and I think he will coach next year, someone will have to give up a draft pick or more to the Saints,” Rapoport said. “So why would they ever let the Panthers do that? It’s such a non-starter for me.”
It’s interesting that Rapoport said he thinks Payton will coach again in 2023.
There have been some reports claiming Payton needs to use this year to “recharge his batteries.”
In the event Payton wants to coach next year, there’ll be multiple teams interested in him. After all, he transformed the Saints into a perennial playoff team in the NFC.