NFC South Notes: Bucs, Rhule, Saints
Le’Veon Bell joined the Buccaneers earlier this week. They are his fifth team and fourth in the past 14 months. Following the Ravens’ decision to waive him earlier this season, the 29-year-old running back considered retirement, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com notes. While Bell has not been much of a factor since his final Steelers season, in 2017, he had not been an in-season free agent for a lengthy stretch until this year. The Ravens cut Bell on Nov. 16. The Bucs, who are in need at running back after Leonard Fournette‘s IR placement, may well give him an opportunity on third downs and as a change-of-pace option behind Ronald Jones. Bell also expressed regret for how public his Steelers franchise tag dispute became in 2018, though the former All-Pro said he does not regret skipping that season. While that move ended up benefiting Bell financially, via the lucrative guarantee he received from the Jets in 2019, his career has never recovered from that decision.
Here is the latest from the NFC South:
- Although the Panthers have drifted out of contention and have gone 10-20 under Matt Rhule, the drumbeat of the ex-college HC staying on for a third season continues. Despite Carolina’s 4-10 record, Rhule is still expected to receive a third season, Joe Person of The Athletic notes (subscription required). David Tepper, naturally, is unhappy about being 0-for-4 in winning seasons as owner; this will put more heat on Rhule if/once he comes back in 2022. Rhule returning gibes with what we’ve heard out of Charlotte in recent weeks. Rhule received a monster contract in 2020 — seven years, $62MM — but has not delivered just yet, largely due to decisions at quarterback. The Panthers have bounced from Cam Newton to Teddy Bridgewater to Sam Darnold to P.J. Walker and back to Newton over the past year and change. Rhule said this week Darnold will return to action and play some against the Bucs.
- Sean Payton returned to Saints headquarters Friday, Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com tweets. Payton contracted the coronavirus for a second time and missed New Orleans’ shutout win in Tampa. He will be back for a coaching assignment that will involve game-planning for rookie Ian Book’s first regular-season snaps. Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian are on the Saints’ COVID-19 list.
- Hill’s second Saints extension will pay between $40MM and $95MM, depending on his role. Hill’s 2022 salary ($10.1MM) is fully guaranteed, with his 2023 base ($9.9MM) becoming guaranteed in March 2022, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. However, the other components of this contract are more complex. Hill’s 2023-25 salaries can increase by $12MM per year if he throws at least 224 regular-season passes the previous year. That prospect will hinge on how the Saints proceed at quarterback in 2022, when Jameis Winston is a free agent. There are also $18MM in incentives included, Florio adds, with many of those escalators tied to passing statistics. Essentially, this is a two-year, $20MM deal with significant upside for Hill, who will be 32 by Week 1 of next season.
- The Bucs‘ Week 15 injury avalanche will indeed cost them Mike Evans for at least one game. The Pro Bowl wideout did not practice this week and will miss the Bucs-Panthers matchup Sunday. Evans suffered a hamstring injury against the Saints. The Bucs will also be without Fournette and Lavonte David, whom they placed on IR Thursday, due to injuries suffered last week. Chris Godwin is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Saints Place Taysom Hill, Trevor Siemian On Reserve/COVID-19 List
The Saints are the latest team with a virus issue. It may well lead the playoff-contending squad starting a rookie at quarterback Monday night.
New Orleans placed Trevor Siemian on the reserve/COVID-19 list earlier Thursday morning, Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com notes, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds that Taysom Hill will also be moved to the virus list (Twitter link). Rookie Ian Book is the next man up. The Notre Dame product is likely to get the call Monday night.
Book would be New Orleans’ fourth QB starter this season, following Jameis Winston, Siemian and Hill. The Saints selected the ex-Fighting Irish standout in the fourth round. This certainly could stall the Saints’ recent momentum. After nearly falling out of the playoff race during a stretch without Alvin Kamara, the Saints have won two straight — including a 9-0 win in Tampa that doubled as Tom Brady‘s first shutout loss in 15 years.
Sean Payton has not been at the facility this week; the 16th-year head coach remains away from the team after testing positive for COVID last week. The Saints chose Book 133rd overall. He started three seasons at Notre Dame, topping out with a 34-touchdown pass season as a junior in 2019.
Book is also the winningest starting QB in Notre Dame history. He stands to be tasked with helping the Saints stay on the No. 7 seed line in the NFC playoff race. The Saints’ win over the Buccaneers moved them to 7-7; FiveThirtyEight.com gives the team a 44% chance to make the playoffs. New Orleans being forced to give the keys to a Day 3 rookie with zero regular-season snaps will impact those odds.
The Saints also added seven more players to their reserve/COVID-19 list. Malcolm Jenkins is among them. Joining the veteran safety are safety Jeff Heath, guard James Carpenter, offensive lineman Jordan Mills, defensive end Jalyn Holmes, D-tackle Christian Ringo and linebacker Kaden Elliss.
Saints HC Sean Payton To Miss Sunday’s Game
Sean Payton won’t be on the sideline for Sunday’s matchup against the defending champs. The Saints announced that their head coach has tested positive for Covid-19. ‘
[RELATED: This Date In Transactions History: Saints Extend HC Sean Payton]
Per league protocols, Payton will be out for 10 days unless he meets the requirements for a fully vaccinated individual to return to his team. At the very least, Payton won’t be coaching against the Buccaneers this weekend.
Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen will assume the duties of head coach for Sunday’s showdown, according to the team. Allen was the head coach of the Raiders for two-plus seasons from 2012 to 2014. He collected an 8-24 record during his first two seasons at the helm, and an 0-4 start to the 2014 campaign led to his firing.
New Orleans is currently sitting with a 6-7 record and is struggling to remain in the postseason picture. The team already had their hands full against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, but that task will be made even tougher without Payton on the sideline.
This Date In Transactions History: Saints Extend HC Sean Payton
On this date in 2019, Sean Payton got a significant pay bump and commitment from the New Orleans Saints. On September 15, 2019, the head coach inked a new five-year deal with the organization.
Payton, a former QB-turned-coach, spent a few years as Giants offensive coordinator and Cowboys assistant head coach before securing the head coaching job in New Orleans in 2006. Payton’s first three years at the helm left a bit to be desired; the Saints had only one playoff appearance and went 25-23 between the three campaigns. However, the Saints finally broke through in 2009, winning 13 games en route to a Super Bowl championship.
The Saints remained a contender through 2013 (although Payton wasn’t with them in 2012 thanks to a suspension). While the team underwhelmed and went 7-9 each season between 2014 and 2016, Payton and the team managed to rehabilitate their image and rejoin the class of the NFC. The Saints won 24 games between 2017 and 2018, leading to Payton’s extension in 2019.
While Payton’s previous deal paid him around $9MM per season, this new extension was estimated to be worth up to a whopping $13MM annually, making the Saints leader one of the highest-paid head coaches in professional sports history. Payton’s deal was originally set to end following the 2020 season, but the extension (which ripped up the final year of the former deal) kept the head coach in New Orleans through at least 2024.
Perhaps more importantly, the extension kept Payton away from one of the Saints’ NFC foes. Since Payton joined the Saints, the Cowboys made multiple attempts to recruit the coach back to Dallas. Even then, the extension didn’t do much to stop them; the Cowboys reportedly reached out to Payton about their head coaching vacancy in 2019 (which VP Stephen Jones later denied).
While the Saints have been unable to return to the Super Bowl, Payton has still managed to keep the organization relevant. After inking his extension, the head coach guided his team to a 13-3 record in 2019 and a 12-4 record in 2020. There’s some uncertainty about the organization’s ability to compete in the post-Drew Brees era. However, thanks in part to the extension signed on this date in 2019, the Saints brass can rest easy knowing that they have one organizational pillar signed long term.
Saints, Michael Thomas Working To Resolve Issues
Continuing his downward trajectory from last season, Michael Thomas is expected to miss a chunk of the Saints’ 2021 campaign due to a late-offseason ankle surgery. The All-Pro wide receiver then sent out a tweet seemingly aimed at the Saints’ reaction to his medical decision, adding smoke to this simmering situation.
But cooler heads may prevail here. Thomas and Sean Payton met recently to discuss comments each made about this situation, according to Yahoo.com’s Charles Robinson. Prior to Thomas’ tweet, Payton said he would have preferred his top wideout undergo surgery earlier this year in order to be ready for the season. The issue of Thomas ignoring Saints calls this offseason surely came up as well.
Both parties do not want this situation to escalate further, Robinson adds. This would be good news for the Saints, who are moving from one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history to a far less certain option under center. A Thomas trade would carry a significant dead-money charge as well.
Although other teams have moved past dead-money bloodbaths to separate from players — as in the cases of the Steelers (Antonio Brown), Rams (Jared Goff) and Eagles (Carson Wentz) — the Saints have depended on Thomas as their top target for years. They moved on from Emmanuel Sanders this offseason and do not have much behind Thomas in the way of reliable weaponry. Separating from the two-time All-Pro would leave Jameis Winston and/or Taysom Hill at an extreme disadvantage upon taking over for Drew Brees.
Thomas’ trade value has plummeted as well. Since he shattered the NFL single-season reception record, with 149 in 2019, the Ohio State product has run into injury issues on multiple fronts and was suspended for a game for fighting with teammate Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. The past year has affected Thomas’ standing around the league, with two GMs expressing to Robinson a belief the receiver’s trade value has fallen to the point no first-round pick could be attached in a deal without protections. Another GM, however, added that a healthy Thomas would bring back a package of a first-round pick and change, which would be similar to the haul Stefon Diggs fetched last year. Since Thomas is not currently healthy, this is a moot point.
Zach Strief To Join Saints’ Coaching Staff
After playing 12 seasons with the Saints, Zach Strief will return to the organization as a coach. The Saints are hiring Strief as their assistant offensive line coach, according to WWL Radio.
Strief has worked with WWL as a play-by-play announcer in New Orleans since retiring in 2018, but he will join Sean Payton‘s staff. Previous Saints assistant O-line coach Brendan Nugent is expected to take another position on staff, Mike Triplett of ESPN.com tweets.
Part of Payton’s first Saints draft class, as a seventh-round pick in 2006, Strief only played in New Orleans during his NFL career. After serving as a fill-in starter early in his career, Strief became a full-timer at right tackle in the 2010s. He spent six-plus seasons as the Saints’ regular right tackle, with knee injuries in 2017 ending that run.
Longest-Tenured Head Coaches In The NFL
Things move fast in today’s NFL and the old adage of “coaches are hired to be fired” has seemingly never been more true. For the most part, teams change their coaches like they change their underwear. 
A head coach can take his team to the Super Bowl, or win the Super Bowl, or win multiple Super Bowls, but they’re never immune to scrutiny. Just ask Tom Coughlin, who captured his second ring with the Giants after the 2011 season, only to receive his pink slip after the 2015 campaign.
There are also exceptions. Just look at Bill Belichick, who just wrapped up his 20th season at the helm in New England. You’ll also see a few others on this list, but, for the most part, most of today’s NFL head coaches are relatively new to their respective clubs. And, history dictates that many of them will be elsewhere when we check in on this list in 2022.
Over one-third (12) of the NFL’s head coaches have coached no more than one season with their respective teams. Meanwhile, less than half (15) have been with their current clubs for more than three years. It seems like just yesterday that the Cardinals hired Kliff Kingsbury, right? It sort of was – Kingsbury signed on with the Cardinals in January of 2019. Today, he’s practically a veteran.
Here’s the list of the current head coaches in the NFL, ordered by tenure, along with their respective start dates:
- Bill Belichick (New England Patriots): January 27, 2000
- Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints): January 18, 2006
- Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers): January 27, 2007
- John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens): January 19, 2008
- Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks): January 9, 2010
- Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs): January 4, 2013
- Bill O’Brien (Houston Texans): January 2, 2014
- Mike Zimmer (Minnesota Vikings): January 15, 2014
- Dan Quinn (Atlanta Falcons): February 2, 2015
- Doug Pederson (Philadelphia Eagles): January 18, 2016
- Sean McDermott (Buffalo Bills): January 11, 2017
- Doug Marrone (Jacksonville Jaguars): December 19, 2016 (interim; permanent since 2017)
- Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers): January 12, 2017
- Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams): January 12, 2017
- Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers): February 6, 2017
- Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears): January 7, 2018
- Matt Patricia (Detroit Lions): February 5, 2018
- Frank Reich (Indianapolis Colts): February 11, 2018
- Jon Gruden (Las Vegas Raiders): January 6, 2018
- Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans): January 20, 2018
- Kliff Kingsbury (Arizona Cardinals): January 8, 2019
- Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals): February 4, 2019
- Vic Fangio (Denver Broncos): January 10, 2019
- Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers): January 8, 2019
- Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins): February 4, 2019
- Adam Gase (New York Jets): January 11, 2019
- Bruce Arians (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): January 8, 2019
- Ron Rivera (Washington Redskins): January 1, 2020
- Matt Rhule (Carolina Panthers): January 7, 2020
- Mike McCarthy (Dallas Cowboys): January 7, 2020
- Joe Judge (New York Giants): January 8, 2020
- Kevin Stefanski (Cleveland Browns): January 13, 2020
Sean Payton Cleared From COVID-19
Sean Payton revealed March 19 he tested positive for COVID-19. The longtime Saints coach received good news nearly two weeks later. Doctors have cleared Payton of the coronavirus, he announced Wednesday.
The 56-year-old coach said he was cleared six days ago. Payton represented the NFL’s first scare related to this virus, which has paused the sports world and altered the way of life in hundreds of countries. Payton was tested March 16 and said (via Jarrett Bell of USA Today) his symptoms reached their worst point around two weeks ago.
“You fatigue real easy,” Payton said of this period. “I’d be up moving around, doing something, then you’d want to lay down again. That lasted three or four days. By the time I got the test results back I had begun feeling better. I had my appetite back.”
When Payton was diagnosed, the U.S. had confirmed less than 12,000 coronavirus cases. As of Wednesday afternoon, that number has climbed past 211,000. It is unlikely Payton’s positive test will be the only one to affect the NFL, but this obviously represents good news.
The 15th-year New Orleans coach took time away from football responsibilities but returned to work (remotely) Monday. The Saints are building their draft board and will hold their war room at a New Orleans bar, Larry Holder of The Athletic tweets.
Despite the dire revised COVID-19 predictions released by the White House on Tuesday, the NFL still plans to go ahead with the draft as planned — though, the event will unfold in a far different fashion — and as of now is planning to begin the regular season on time with fans in stadiums. OTAs and minicamp remain on hold but are unlikely to commence this year.
Sean Payton Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Saints head coach Sean Payton has tested positive for coronavirus (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Payton is the first NFL figure, that we know of, to test positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, given the rapid spread of the virus, he might not be the last.
The longtime coach did not feel well Sunday and took a coronavirus test Monday, Schefter reports. He did not receive the results until Thursday afternoon. Payton said he has no fever or cough, per Schefter, but is resting at home.
Payton says that he is going public with his diagnosis in order to stress the importance of taking proper precautions against the virus. He wants people to stay inside, behave responsibly, and follow government protocols as the world looks to keep a lid on the pandemic.
“This is not just about social distancing,” Payton told ESPN. “It’s shutting down here for a week to two weeks. If people understand the curve, and understand the bump, we can easily work together as a country to reduce it. Take a minute to understand what the experts are saying. It’s not complicated to do what they’re asking of us. Just that type of small investment by every one of us will have a dramatic impact.
“I was fortunate to be in the minority, without the serious side effects that some have. I’m lucky. Younger people feel like they can handle this, but they can be a carrier to someone who can’t handle it. So we all need to do our part. It’s important for every one of us to do our part.”
Payton, 56, is set to enter his 14th season as the Saints’ head coach. A Super Bowl-winning head coach, Payton ranks fifth among active NFL HCs with 131 wins and 27th all time. He has overseen eight of the Saints’ nine playoff victories.
As the NBA, NHL and college basketball halted their seasons — with March Madness being canceled — the NFL opted to proceed with free agency. The league went against several anonymous executives’ wishes on that front. The NFL has, however, nixed pre-draft visits and shut down team facilities. Free agents are not allowed to visit teams. Payton’s positive test may serve as an ominous sign for the league, which has also postponed OTAs.
As of midday Thursday, the United States has seen nearly 12,000 coronavirus cases. That number has multiplied steadily over the past several days. Those days have doubled as some of the strangest in the history of American sports.
Sean Payton Expects Delayed Start To Offseason
In an interview with Britney Eurton at Oaklawn Park (a horseracing track), Saints head coach Sean Payton expressed skepticism that the new league year would begin as scheduled given the current status of COVID-19. “Most immediately the start of our league year… that’s going to be, I think, pushed back.” Payton currently serves on the NFL’s competition committee and is one of the most highly respected coaches in the league.
ESPN’s Dianna Russini asked Payton to clarify his comments and reported that Payton reiterated “‘he is not sure, but thinks it will be delayed.'” While that is obviously far from any official word from the league, the fact that one of the top decision makers in one of the league’s most successful organizations is publically expecting a delay does not bode well for the calendar to continue following business as usual.
Payton’s comments do conflict with some earlier reports that suggested the league still planned to start free agency as planned while delaying other offseason events that involved more travel and in-person interaction (like the draft).
A delay would move everyone into unprecedented territory and it’s unclear how any delays would impact free agents, players currently under contract, and draft prospects, but the league is clearly bracing (much like the rest of the world) for circumstances we have never seen before.