Sean Payton’s going to make sure none of his players pull an Antonio Brown.
During a radio appearance Friday on the Tiki and Tierney Show on CBS Radio, the Saints coach said he will be utilizing a device which blocks players from using social media before and after games.
“It’s just a simple scrambler that just avoids the social media aspect. That will be in our locker room,” Payton said, via Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate. “It’s not a violation of your freedom of nothing. But it’s the ability to two hours prior to kickoff, because I want them listening to music, but you can simply hit this little button.”
Asked if it was a Saints thing or an NFL thing, he replied: “It’s going to be a Sean Payton thing.”
It’s not just the danger of a Facebook Live post like Brown’s, but the simple act of concentration that bothers Payton about social media. And he admitted that such an event would have had a much different outcome if a non-star player had done it.
“It’s a lot easier to handle if it’s a third-string tight end,” Payton said. “It’s much more difficult to handle when it’s one of your top players. But that being said, I would have been pissed. Look, corporate America is dealing with the same issue. In the work world, employees at their desk, how much time are they spending on social media? Close to 35, 40 percent of the time.”
It’s a radical approach, and certainly some of his players will grumble about it. And plenty of coaches may try to follow suit. Now if you’ll pardon us, we have to hurry and tweet out a link to this story while we still can.