There’s the first big change in the NFC South this season. The Carolina Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule on Monday and named defensive coordinator Steve Wilks as their interim. Rhule’s teams went 11-27 over the last three years, twice beating the Saints — their lone win through the first five games came against New Orleans and a hobbled Jameis Winston in Week 3.
So look for Rhule to return to the college ranks. He built an impressive resume at Temple and Baylor and should enjoy plenty of job offers from around the country: Nebraska, Colorado, and maybe Auburn, among others. But what does this mean for the Panthers? Could it drive them to pursue Sean Payton?
The former Saints head coach has said he’s enjoyed working in the media more than he expected after taking a job with FOX Sports earlier this year, and there’s no guarantee he’ll return to coaching after taking a year off. He’s also said he’d jump at the chance to coach a team if it was the right situation for him, and previous reporting has given us an idea of what he’d like to walk into: a warm-weather team with a veteran quarterback and a competitive roster.
Returning to coach a team managed by a meddling owner and without a quarterback doesn’t feel like an ideal fit for him, but Carolina will probably make a run at him anyway. Panthers owner David Tepper invested years in recruiting Deshaun Watson to no avail. Tepper also paid $6 million to free Rhule from his Baylor contract and then promised him $62 million to come coach in Carolina (and Rhule will get about $40 million of that without ever stepping foot in the building again). His team signed Teddy Bridgewater to a big contract, then traded for Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield in subsequent offseasons. Making a bold, doomed-from-the-start run at Payton would be right in character for him. It’s already been rumored to be in the works.
So while it’s not likely to manifest into anything, Carolina’s involvement could help raise the asking-price for Payton when teams come calling. The Saints own his contract for the next two seasons and will have a say in where he goes next, once he’s ready to return to coaching. Assuming this plays out like the Watson sequence did, Payton would entertain offers, whittle down the list to acceptable destinations, then give it to the Saints so they can negotiate the best trade for their team. We can say they wouldn’t trade Payton to a division rival, but if Carolina is the only team putting multiple first-round picks on the table (and they might be), they may have to do it anyway.
We’ll have to wait and see how it all actually plays out, but the more suitors (however seriously they’re considered), the better. It gives New Orleans an opportunity to play them against each other and improve the return in a trade. Potentially.