Sean Payton stepped away as head coach of the New Orleans Saints after the 2022 season, but the 58-year-old is not stepping away from the game.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio is reporting that Payton is set to join Fox as part of their NFL coverage this season. The Super Bowl-winning coach was also considering a position with Amazon Prime, which has exclusive streaming rights to Thursday Night Football starting this season.
According to Florio's report, Payton will be an in-studio analyst for Fox. Furthermore, he may fill in for former NFL head coach Jimmy Johnson on Fox NFL Sunday from time to time.
At this moment, there's no word on whether Payton would have worked an in-studio show on Amazon Prime. Amazon already announced Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit as its announcing duo, so Payton likely would've worked a different role.
Florio adds in his report that many around the football world believe Payton will only be in broadcasting for one season. A potential return to head coaching certainly isn't off the table.
As a matter of fact, Front Office Sports' Michael McCarthy reports that the Carolina Panthers are eyeing the Super Bowl champion as the successor to Matt Rhule. Furthermore, McCarthy suggests the Dallas Cowboys could be interested in Payton's services as well.
Before being hired as head coach of the Saints, Payton did work for the Cowboys. He joined the team in 2003 as an assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach. He was reportedly influential in the team signing former quarterback and current CBS color commentator Tony Romo.
Payton was hired by one of his mentors in the coaching world, Bill Parcells. Payton would take the Saints' head coaching job three years after joining the Cowboys.
Time will tell whether Payton returns to an NFL sideline. The interest is certainly there, and there's a storybook job opening potentially available if the Cowboys underperform this season.
However, there's no guarantee the Cowboys will underperform this season. And there's no guarantee the Panthers are bad enough that a coaching change will be warranted. If that's the case, then there surely will be teams who do fire their head coaches who cast a line to see if Payton is interested in coming back.
Of course, there's always the possibility that Payton enjoys life as a broadcaster. Maybe this new job of his is fulfilling in a way coaching isn't for him anymore. The only thing we know for certain is that Payton's potential return will be of great interest to teams, fans, and Fox alike.
