Sean Payton confirms he will meet with Carolina Panthers

Former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton confirmed he’ll meet with the Carolina Panthers for their head coaching vacancy during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

Not only that, Payton outlined his schedule for the week, which features multiple interviews. Payton is set to meet with the Houston Texans, Denver Broncos and Panthers.

Payton revealed to Cowherd his schedule of interviews and said he’ll personally meet with Panthers owner David Tepper.

“So the way the league rules are set up for coaches that are under contract with teams and that would be me,” Payton said. “They can begin the interview process tomorrow. I’ll have a chance to visit prior to them like I’ve talked with a few teams. That’s just done through permission with the Saints. But I think this week, it would be Houston, Denver, later in the week, Carolina. 

“In some cases, depending on schedules, they’ll come here or in other cases, I might go there late at the end of the week. I’ll go out to New York, I’ll have a chance to visit with Mr. Tepper and Carolina.”

Payton was asked how important ownership and quarterback stability were when looking at job openings. The current FOX NFL analyst put it near the top of the list, but added a caveat.

“It starts with ownership and just because, look, you know, finding both, you know generally speaking, if the quarterback is there, they’re probably a team that’s playing well, generally speaking,” Payton said. “And so the teams that have openings I’m not gonna say are broken, but they’ve had problems. That’s why there’s an opening, right? And so, I think that element’s critical, the ownership element, and philosophically, you know, because there and I’ve said this and I hope it’s not looked at as an indictment on certain teams, but there are a number of teams, it’s hard to win in this league. 

“And it’s certainly harder to win in this league if there’s internal problems before before you even play an opponent.”

All three teams made changes: the Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett prior to the end of the season, the same as the Panthers who fired Matt Rhule. Rhule went on to accept the Nebraska head coaching gig.

The Texans fired Lovie Smith right after the season and the team holds the No. 2 overall pick. On paper, the Texans and Panthers do not have a franchise quarterback, but Payton seems to hold Tepper in high regard.

As far as the Broncos are concerned, the team has high value ownership and a quarterback in Russell Wislon, who signed a five-year, $242.5 million contract after his trade from the Seattle Seahawks. However, he had arguably the worst season of his career as a passer.

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Payton was 152-89 overall as a head coach from 2006-21 with the Saints, winning Super Bowl XLIV and was the Coach of the Year in 2006.