Did Sean Payton screw the Broncos out of hiring him while addressing recent rumors? (Video)

Sean Payton addressed recent coaching rumors about him on FOX’s NFL pregame show, but did so in a very strategic way. 

The NFL coaching carosuel is already spinning, but the speed is about to pick up.

One of the hottest names on the coaching market is former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.

Well, technically he’s not yet a former member of the Saints. Payton still has years left on his deal with New Orleans — two, specifically — that would need to be offset by compensation from any team that hires him.

The what in that equation looks to be a first-round pick but the who is where things get interesting. Payton was named as the first head coach the Denver Broncos plan on interviewing after the season is over, which jump-started the coaching rumor mill before the final week of the season kicked off.

Payton addressed the recent rumors in a segment on Fox’s NFL pregame show, but did so in a way that seems to be moving chess pieces around the board in his favor.

Sean Payton addresses Broncos coaching rumors live on NFL on FOX

“I have two years left on a contract with New Orleans,” Payton said. “Because of that any team that would want to inquire or speak with me can do so, they just need permission from the Saints. Down the road, if that’s something that materializes into anything else then there would be compensation required much like a player trade.”

But wait, there’s more — and it’s spicy.

Payton went on to give some details about the situation that might raise some alarm bells inside the league offices on Park Avenue.

“Denver’s the first team and I was able to have a conversation with their owner and that’s kind of the protocol,” Payton noted, but quickly followed that up with some very important clarification. “The interview process can’t start until the 17th of this month, so that’s really where it’s at.”

Hmmmm, very interesting.

Payton was obviously going to need to address the Broncos coaching rumors on the FOX pregame show, but how he went about it is the notable thing here.

As Payton noted, rather strategically, the interview process can’t begin until after Super Wild Card Weekend. That means no team can technically talk to him until next Tuesday or risk being slapped with a tampering charge by the NFL.

Payton straight up said the Broncos owner has already had a conversation with him, which seems to be in direct violation of league protocol.

One Twitter user pointed out the strategy Payton appears to be going with.

It’s already being speculated that Payton’s camp leaked the fact that Denver wants to interview him as a means of firing up other teams to do the same. See also: teams he might like to coach more than the Broncos.

Essentially, Payton controls the narrative right now since he’s the only one that can talk about what’s happening without totally violating NFL rules. He needs to be careful how he goes about playing this game in the shadows, but no one should be surprised that Payton is playing the rules loose while trying to best position himself for a return to the sidelines in 2023.