Sean Payton only left his job as head coach of the Saints eight months ago, but he already is missing his time on the sideline.
Payton told NewOrleans.Football that he would return if offered a good job.
“If the right situation presented itself, I would definitely be interested. And there’s no utopia, if you will, when it comes to teams, but if I felt like it was the right situation, I would have an interest in that. That all being said, that could come in a year, that could come in two years,” Payton said.
So what would constitute “the right situation”? Payton said it’s all about having the kind of ownership and front office he thinks he can work well with and will help him build a winning culture. Payton said there are some NFL teams that simply aren’t “functional,” and those teams, Payton said, he’d never coach for.
“There’s a handful of teams that aren’t, and those teams, regardless of what takes place, they can win on Sunday but they have trouble winning long term,” Payton said.
Payton acknowledged that when watching Sunday’s Saints-Buccaneers game, he was wishing he could have been there.
“This past weekend’s game vs. Tampa was the first time I had a version of FOMO. I was jealous of everyone that was there, including random Bruce Arians on the sideline,” Payton said.
Payton is in the TV studio, not on the sideline. But he may be back on a sideline soon.