3 head coaches the Saints need to consider to undo Dennis Allen's damage

The New Orleans Saints are steeped in a search for a new head coach for the second time in just three years. This is following 15 seasons of Sean Payton and unprecedented success, including the team's only Super Bowl appearance and title in Super Bowl XLIV during the 2009 season.

Back then, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina — which sliced the roof off the Saints' Superdome and moved the team's games to Baton Rouge and San Antonio — then-Saints owner Tom Benson and general manager Mickey Loomis somehow lured one of the hottest young NFL assistants in Payton to coach the fledgling franchise in a city of ruins.

Where do the Saints stand in head coaching appeal?

The Saints' situation is even worse, now, however. The dome has been renovated multiple times since the storm and is in excellent shape as it prepares for its eighth Super Bowl on Feb. 9 and approaches its 50th birthday on Aug. 9. But the Saints' roster salary cap disaster (years in the making, thanks to the 23-year tenured Loomis) is about to blow that repaired roof into the Gulf of Mexico.

Keep in mind that the Saints that Payton took over had only one losing season over the previous five pre-Katrina. The current bunch just had its second in just three years.

New Orleans, like few NFL teams in history, has blown away the competition in terms of salary cap space with a -$78.5 million on the scoreboard — $55 million more in debt than the second-worst fiscally irresponsible salary cap offender in Cleveland. Meanwhile, the other five NFL franchises currently looking for new head coaches have much better projected cap portfolios, according to Spotrac: New England ($131.3 million), Las Vegas ($112.5 million), Chicago ($81.5 million), Jacksonville ($40.6 million) and the New York Jets ($30.6 million).

What coach will want to walk into (and then try to escape) such a money pit, in addition to inheriting the maven of mediocrity the team has been for four seasons (5-12 this season, 9-8 in 2023, 7-10 in 2022 and 9-8 in 2021)?

A desperado, perhaps?

Exiled former NFL head coach Jon Gruden may jump at the chance after three full seasons out. Embattled Cowboys' coach Mike McCarthy, whose contract just expired on Wednesday, may see New Orleans as a greener pasture than Dallas. Former Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel will likely do a lot better than New Orleans, but he is worth a shot, no matter how much of a Hail Mary it would be. Here are three head coaching options for the Saints to consider.

3. Jon Gruden could be match made in baggage claim heaven

These are desperate times for the mismanaged Saints — and for deservedly exiled former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden. So, why don't the two bring their hefty baggage into a marriage? We're not saying they should give Gruden another chance, but they could.

This is no time for the Saints to be holier than thou concerning Gruden's ridiculously juvenile, racist and stupid email transgressions that surfaced while he was the Raiders coach in 2021, which forced him to resign. Hopefully, he has grown up and away from his jockocracy, homophobic past and realized that he is a 61-year-old man and not 15.

Gruden can flat out coach and did that as well or better than anybody since he first became a head coach with the Oakland Raiders in 1998. Gruden visited with Saints players before their season finale at Tampa Bay last week. In the above tweet, he horses around with (from left) Saints tight end Foster Moreau, quarterback Derek Carr and backup QB Jake Haener. Gruden coached Moreau and Carr on the Raiders from 2018-21.

After inheriting a Raiders team in 1998 that was 4-12 in 1997 and 7-9 in 1996, Gruden went 8-8 twice. Then he had the Raiders in the AFC championship game in just his third year with a 12-4 regular season and AFC West crown. Two years later at Tampa Bay, he became the youngest Super Bowl winning coach at 39 in the 2002 season.

Gruden won three NFC South titles and reached the playoffs three times in seven years at Tampa after winning two AFC West titles and reaching the playoffs twice in four years in his first stint with the Raiders. After a decade in the booth, Gruden took over a Raiders team in 2018 that had three losing seasons over the previous four. He progressed from 4-12 to 7-9 and to 8-8 before the email controversy exploded after a 3-2 start in 2021. His last Raiders team that he built finished 10-7 and reached the playoffs that season under interim coach Rich Bisaccia after Gruden resigned.

The Saints would take a public relations hit for hiring Gruden, but this franchise is used to shame. It features the fan base that invented putting bags over their heads during embarrassing times for crying out loud. They can take it. They're used to ridicule in all forms.

2. Mike McCarthy wouldn't have Jerry Jones in New Orleans

If Dallas coach Mike McCarthy does not return to the Cowboys, he could be the next best thing for the Saints to bringing Sean Payton back. The two have had eerily similar careers.

McCarthy, 61, is the same age as Payton and the same offense and quarterback guru. Each got his first NFL head coaching job in 2006 — McCarthy in Green Bay and Payton, who interviewed for and wanted the Packers job that went to McCarthy, in New Orleans. McCarthy won a Super Bowl in his fifth year with the Packers during the 2010 season with quarterback Aaron Rodgers one year after Payton did the same in his fourth year with the Saints and quarterback Drew Brees. McCarthy reached the NFC title in his second season in 2007, Payton in his first in 2006.

With Green Bay from 2006-18, McCarthy won and reached one Super Bowl, had eight double-digit win seasons, won six NFC North titles (including four straight), reached the playoffs nine times and lost three NFC championship games. He was 10-8 in the postseason with the Packers. With New Orleans from 2006-21 (suspended in 2012 for Bountygate), Payton won and reached one Super Bowl, had nine double-digit win seasons, won seven NFC South titles (including four straight), reached the playoffs nine times and lost two NFC championship games. He was 9-8 in the postseason with New Orleans.

Both turned around franchises quickly in their first head coaching stops. Green Bay was 4-12 in 2005 before McCarthy. New Orleans was 3-13 in 2005 before Payton. McCarthy has won in his second head coaching job. After inheriting a 6-10 team that had gone 8-8 twice before that, he went 6-10 in 2020, then put together three straight 12-5 playoff teams. But he is 1-3 in the playoffs. Payton, meanwhile, has Denver at 10-7 and in the playoffs for the first time since 2015 in just his second season.

Unlike Payton, though, McCarthy has a past with the Saints, and it is remembered very fondly. He was the offensive coordinator under first-year coach Jim Haslett in 2000 when the Saints won their first playoff game in history after a 10-6 regular season, which was their first winning campaign and playoff season since 1992. McCarthy was the NFL's assistant coach of the year in 2000 as he expertly used dual-action quarterback Aaron Brooks. McCarthy left to become San Francisco's OC in 2005 before going to Green Bay.

Why would McCarthy leave Dallas for the Saints? Like Payton, he would find general manager Mickey Loomis much less meddling and easier to work with than always-hovering Dallas owner/president/general manager Jerry Jones. Loomis may not be the greatest GM as far as acquiring personnel and managing the salary cap, but he knows how to facilitate and support a great coach and let him be the de facto GM, which is what Loomis did with Payton. That may appeal to McCarthy.

Plus the media and fan pressure is not as bad in New Orleans as it is in Dallas and will continue to be. McCarthy would have an extended honeymoon in New Orleans, considering his previous success, particularly compared to the complete lack thereof for Dennis Allen as a head coach when he was hired by the Saints three years ago.

McCarthy and/or Gruden could finesse Loomis to their benefit as Payton so expertly did.

1. Mike Vrabel may be unattainable, but he is worth a shot

Former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, 49, may be the hottest NFL coaching candidate out there, which means he likely will not even consider the salary-cap-bottom-feeding Saints. He favors New England, which was interviewing him on Thursday. Vrabel was a three-time Super Bowl champion linebacker with the Patriots.

The Titans (3-14 this season) perhaps should have not fired Vrabel after two bad seasons in 2022 and '23 at 7-10 and 6-11. That came after back-to-back regular seasons of 11-5 and 12-5 in 2020 and '21 with a pair of AFC South titles. He lost opening playoff games in both seasons, but he took Tennessee to the playoffs three times in his six seasons and had four winning seasons. The Saints would be happy with that.

The Saints may interview Vrabel next week if he does not become the Patriots coach over the next few days. The odds are against the Saints, but maybe they can convince Vrabel he will have time to turn the Saints around, considering he comes in with a successful past, like McCarthy. New England will likely not be as patient. It just fired coach Jerod Mayo after one season.

Other New Orleans targets

New Orleans video interviewed Miami defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver on Wednesday. The Saints were interviewing New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka on Thursday and will be interviewing Detroit Lions' defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn on Friday.

Other requested interviews upcoming are with Philadelphia's offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady.