Sean Payton might have had 100 million reasons to take his talents to South Beach.
The Sun-Sentinel reported Payton was offered a five-year, $100 million contract to coach the Dolphins, a whopping $20 million per season average that would have trumped the record $10 million annual benchmark set by Jon Gruden with the Raiders in 2018.
Payton announced he was retired “for now” in January and joined FOX Sports as an analyst.
“I don’t like the word retirement,” Payton said in January. “I still have a vision for doing things in football, and I’ll be honest with you, that might be coaching again at some point. I don’t think it’s this year … that’s not where my heart is right now. My plans are not to be coaching in 2022. And that’s just how I feel.”
Reports linked Payton and then-retired quarterback Tom Brady to Miami, but Brady came out of retirement to return to the Buccaneers.
Brady didn’t shoot down the report linking him to the Dolphins, saying, “I’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of people.”
Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was named head coach in New Orleans.
The Dolphins hired 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel to replace Brian Flores.
