The offseason for the NFL begins for many teams right after week 18 of the regular season, as the 18 teams that missed the playoffs begin preparing for next season, hoping that they can make the playoffs in the next season.
One of the most immediate things teams do, especially those at the bottom of the NFL hierarchy, is find a new head coach. This offseason is no different, though the number of teams needing new head coaches is more than usual as seven teams looked to fill one of the most important positions in their franchise.
Joining that not-so-glorious list of teams is the New Orleans Saints who have finally had enough of the Dennis Allen Era in the Big Easy. Allen was fired on Nov. 4, 2024, after a disastrous 2–7 start to the season, being released after a disappointing 23–22 loss to the Carolina Panthers despite beating them 47–10 in week one.
Allen’s head coaching tenure in New Orleans was nothing but disappointment, especially following the Sean Payton/Drew Brees Era, as he failed to make the playoffs in either of his two seasons as the head coach. He finished his time with an overall record of 18–25, something the organization should have seen coming based on his time with the Raiders.
Following his release the Saints raised special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi to become the interim head coach. The team would rally, winning three of their next four games, before losing the last four to end the season 5–12, netting the team the ninth overall pick in the 2025 draft.
With the end of the season the Saints joined the New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Dallas Cowboys in riding the coaching carousel of the NFL.
Unlike all of the other teams, the Saints had absolutely no enticing factors to make coaches want to take the job. The Saints have one of the oldest cores in the league, a drought in young developing talent, and to top it all off, the worst cap situation in the entire league, perhaps in the league’s history.
The Saints, a team that just finished 5–12, are currently $52,317,537 over the cap. They were nearly $100 million over if they had not already reworked contracts such as offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk who will soon be retiring.
For perspective on how bad that is, the team closest to the Saints is the Cleveland Browns, another bad team. Yet even the Browns are still $22 million closer to even than the Saints are. Additionally, the only two playoff teams that were over the cap were the Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills.
The Patriots, Raiders, and Bears were the best jobs to take as they all either have top draft picks, young franchise cornerstones or $60 million or more in cap space. The Patriots, having all three of these things, were the first to fill their vacancy with former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.
The Saints had, at one point, managed to interview both of the hottest coaches on the market. Both Detroit Lions coordinators, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, had interviewed with the Saints earlier in January.
Johnson was most likely never going to happen, especially after it was reported that he would only take the job if longtime GM Mickey Loomis was booted from the position. Yet there was hope for Glenn who had played for New Orleans back in 2008, his final season in the NFL.
That would not happen though as he ended up taking the job for the team that drafted him, the New York Jets. Eventually, the Jags would find their new HC, hiring Tampa Bay’s former oc Liam Coen, and the Cowboys would hire Brian Schottenheimer.
Of the two teams left, the Raiders would be the next one to hire a coach, bringing in former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll. This now just leaves the Saints looking for a head coach, and the pickings are slim, to say the least.
Following both Johnson and Glenn heading off the market, the next favorite to take the job was Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who had been on the Saints coaching staff in 2017 as an offensive assistant.
Notably, he spent a year at LSU as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for the 2019 national championship squad. He has overseen the best stretch of play in Bills quarterback Josh Allen, first as the QB’s coach in 2022–2023 and then as the offensive coordinator from 2023–2024.
This year, his first full season as a coordinator, saw Josh Allen fly into the MVP conversation. His use of backs as runners and receivers is very reminiscent of Sean Payton and he would have made good use of Alvin Kamara.
That would not be happening though, he has declined the position, preferring to stay in his current role as the Bills offensive coordinator.
This leaves Darren Rizzi as the favorite to win the job as he currently has the locker room on his side, with Kamar being a particularly vocal advocate. This choice could be good or bad as Rizzi has no experience as a head coach.
Another choice is former Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy who has plenty of experience as a head coach, having won a Super Bowl as the Packers head coach in 2010. But his past seasons in Dallas have been underwhelming, to say the least, continuously falling flat in the playoffs.
Additional candidates for the position right now are Kliff Kingsbury, who is, as of writing this, waiting for the Commanders’ playoff run to end. The Saints have also interviewed New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who was the quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2018–2021.
There is also another interview lined up with Eagles offensive coordinator Kellan Moore, who has spent most of the 2020s bouncing around teams as the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys(2019–2022), LA Chargers(2023), and now the Eagles.
The search is still ongoing, and hopefully, it will end soon. The team needs a captain to right a ship that is currently steaming right into a cliffside.