Sean Payton says Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys have not contacted him about coaching job
Owner Jerry Jones has yet to come out and publicly endorse Mike McCarthy as the Dallas Cowboys head coach for 2022 one week after refusing to do so while saying he needs to evaluate the staff.
But Jones has also not made any contact with former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton about the Cowboys coaching job.
Hiring Payton, who served as a Cowboys assistant under Bill Parcells from 2003-2005, has long been a dream of Jones.
And while he has continually stated since that he has no plans on coaching in 2022, Payton admitted on the “Dan Patrick Show” on Thursday that a couple of teams have made back-channel contact to gauge his interest.
Payton refused to name the teams.
But when pressed if the Cowboys and his hometown Chicago Bears were the two who made contact, he said “no and no.”
“Look, you know this,” Payton said to Patrick. “You can have a back door, ‘Hey, would you have any interest?’ That’s happened maybe with a couple clubs.”
“I’m not looking at that path right now.”
Payton is still under contract with the Saints after announcing his resignation on Tuesday.
To hire him, another team would have to request permission from the Saints to speak with him and then compensate the Saints for his services via cash or a draft pick.
That doesn’t appear to be a move the Cowboys are going to explore as of now.
McCarthy is expected to return as coach in 2022, even if he is still twisting in the wind on the mind of Jones.
Payton plans to pursue opportunities as a NFL broadcast analyst. He says he has already received two or three calls from people in the television industry.
But he is also not finished coaching.
It won’t happen this year. But he will be back in the sidelines in the future.
The question is, will it be with the Cowboys?
It would certainly make next season a make-or-break campaign for McCarthy.
This story was originally published January 27, 2022 at 2:59 PM.
