Sean Payton is now the head coach of the Denver Broncos. But there was a time where he could have been the coach of the Arizona Cardinals instead.
Appearing on Arizona Sports 98.7 this week, Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell admitted that his team had interest in signing Payton, but was unable to meet the asking price that the New Orleans Saints demanded in draft compensation. The Broncos wound up trading for Payton, parting with a 2023 first- and 2024 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick.
“We spent a lot of time. The issues around coach Payton had nothing to do with the money, the compensation we would be paying him,” Bidwill said, via ProFootballTalk..
“It was all the compensation, the draft compensation to the Saints. We just weren’t willing to go with what the Saints wanted us to give up. It would have been too costly to the team for us to rebuild that roster. It was really a series of tradeoffs. I still felt like we got great coaches out there that can get this team turned around. I think we were right when you look at (Jonathan Gannon).
The Cardinals wound up going in what is basically the total opposite direction with their head coaching hire.
Rather than hire an experienced, Super Bowl winning coach who specializes in offense, they hired Jonathan Gannon – a first-year head coach who specializes in defense.
Time will tell whether the Cardinals got the decision right – both to hire Gannon and to pass on Payton.