Sean Payton Staying with the New Orleans Saints

Sean Payton is going to remain the coach of the New Orleans Saints. It’s a wise move for the Saints – the market for talented head coaching prospects is thin, outside of Chip Kelly – and a good one for Payton, who has guided the team to the playoffs in five of nine seasons. Most importantly, he’ll have Drew Brees around for another year. (Brees though, will almost certainly have to have his contract restructured.)

You’ve got to wonder if this means:

a) Jason Garrett is safe in Dallas. Given how good the Cowboys were in 2014 with a healthy Tony Romo, it’s a no-brainer to bring him back. Payton would probably have been the top target of Jerry Jones.

b) The New York Giants are maybe 2nd guessing letting go of Tom Coughlin. They’re still in the running for Chip Kelly, but if you can’t lure Brian Shaw from Stanford, or Brian Kelly from Notre Dame, and Payton’s not an option … do you really want a rookie head coach to go with Eli Manning and Odell Beckham and zero defense?

Payton just turned 52 and won the Saints a Super Bowl in 2009. He spent time with the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles as an assistant, so there was speculation he could leave for those teams.

Now all he and GM Mickey Loomis have to do is fix what was one of the worst defenses in NFL history.