The Broncos and Saints have reached an agreement that will allow Sean Payton to interview for Denver’s head-coaching vacancy.
The Saints have given the Broncos permission to interview Payton for the job, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. Payton was still under contract when he left New Orleans last year, which means other teams can’t interview him without the Saints’ permission.
That would ordinarily mean the two teams agreed on what kind of compensation the Broncos would send the Saints if they ended up hiring Payton, but Schefter reports that the Saints and Broncos have not come to terms on that yet. We don’t know what the compensation would ultimately turn out to be, but the Broncos do have the 49ers’ 2023 first-round draft pick from the Bradley Chubb trade. The Broncos traded their own first- and second-round picks to Seattle as part of the Russell Wilson trade.
Payton will surely have other teams interested in his services, but the Broncos have gotten a head start by reaching an agreement with the Saints before the season is over.