Sean Payton was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2006-21, save for a one-year suspension in 2012.
Payton stepped away from the Saints following the 2021 season, and after a year of doing television, is on his way back to the sidelines as the new head coach of the Denver Broncos.
With Payton returning to coaching, longtime New Orleans columnist Jeff Duncan attempted to shoot down the theory that the 59-year-old leader left last year because he simply got tired of running the Saints.
“I keep reading and hearing people say Sean Payton didn’t want to coach the Saints anymore. That’s simply not true, a false narrative that has somehow taken root,” Duncan said. “He was burned out. Happens to coaches all the time. See: Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, etc.”
While Duncan is tight with Payton and would know a lot about the coach’s thinking, many fans aren’t buying what he’s selling here.
“I’m sorry, this is a bee in my bonnet,” one fan said. “False narrative that a guy under contract, whom he himself wrote wouldn’t be leaving, who decided not to coach didn’t want to coach anymore? Then what exactly is the truth? Is he in witness protection?
“Didn’t wanna coach but ‘retired’ then interviewed with other teams a year later? Come on bruh,” said another.
“When his ‘break’ was over, he wanted to be elsewhere. Which means he chose not to be here,” a third fan said. “1+1=2, not Denver. Chill. We can love him for what he did here and hate him for abandoning us. The fan base is flexible like that.”
“Payton had a job for life. If he wanted to coach the team, he’d be the coach of the team,” a fourth person chimed in succinctly.
In addition to Payton, the Saints sent a 2024 third-round pick to Denver in exchange for the Broncos’ 2023 first-rounder and a 2024 second-round selection.