Former Saints head coach Sean Payton tipped to take over NFC South rival in 2023

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton could soon be back in the league as reports have emerged suggesting a team is looking to sign him.

Sean Payton, alongside Drew Brees, more or less revolutionised the New Orelans Saints franchise in the mid to late 2000s and into the 2010s, picking them up from a pretty bad place after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and into perennial Super Bowl contenders. 

Indeed they went and won the whole thing during the 2009 season, beating Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, although that was cast into something of a shadow following the ‘Bountygate’ scandal, which caused him to miss the 2012 season.

But with a record of 152-89 and a postseason record of 9-8, he can comfortably say that he did a remarkable job with the franchise before stepping away to look for other opportunities. 

After the work that he did in New Orleans, it’s not a total surprise to see that there are teams interested in bringing him aboard, with reports a few months ago claiming that the Miami Dolphins wanted to pick him up and pair him with Tom Brady.  

Meanwhile another report has suggested that he could be about to come back into the NFL and take the reins of one of the Saints’ NFC South division rivals.

As per Front Office Sports, the Carolina Panthers are said to be taking an interest in his services, noting that “the Panthers might be willing to wait a year while the former New Orleans Saints head coach recharges his batteries on TV”.

From a Panthers point of view, it kind of makes sense to approach someone like Payton, who turned around a struggling franchise behind a quarterback that was impressive but needed some fine-tuning in the form of Breed, something