Saints shouldn’t delay inevitable severance with Dennis Allen

Where would Allen go from here? There’s a very strong possibility he ends up wherever Sean Payton is coaching next year, assuming Payton does make a return to the NFL like everyone seems to expect him to. Whether Payton is coaching the Los Angeles Chargers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Arizona Cardinals, or some other outfit, Allen gave him the most sustained success on defense. It would be nice if there were some way to get them back together in New Orleans, but that’s just unrealistic. This experience has critically damaged Allen’s credibility, and having his old boss come back and bump him back down and into his old office would be awkward-at-best. Whenever he and the Saints part ways, Allen needs a fresh start, and it’s a good bet he’ll team up with Payton again if given the opportunity.

As for Payton himself: the Saints are almost certainly going to try and recruit him once their head coaching job opens up again, even if that isn’t well-advised. They could spin it as him having needed a sabbatical after such a long run coaching the team, and he’s taken time to remind everyone that Loomis is one of his best friends in the world at every turn, but this goes back to credibility. We can’t make any bones about it: Payton quit on the Saints this year. He chose to walk away after steering them into the rocks with aggressive salary cap management and personnel decisions, and once the bill came due he left them with the tab. Again, we should fully anticipate the Saints to make an ill-advised recruiting pitch to Payton at some point. But they’d be better off making a fresh start just like he will be.

And hiring a new head coach would almost certainly spell the end of Jameis Winston’s time in New Orleans. They’ll want to pick their own quarterback to build around, and it’s unlikely he’d factor into their plans. Winston is under contract for 2023 but the Saints can trade or release him with little financial pushback, saving $4 million against the salary cap by doing so. It might spell the end for Taysom Hill, too, as a position-flexible playmaker that not everyone has an appreciation for. If that’s the case, Payton has already signaled his eagerness to take on Hill’s contract with a new team.