$100 million for Payton from Miami Dolphins doesn’t make McDaniel safe
By Brian Miller
There is a new report that is saying the Miami Dolphins offered $100 million to Sean Payton which might imply Mike McDaniel’s future isn’t secure.
The Sun-Sentinels Dave Hyde wrote an article saying that Stephen Ross offered Sean Payton $100 million to coach the Dolphins. We need to break that down a little bit and try to understand what that might mean for the future of Mike McDaniel if it means anything at all.
The article, linked above, is behind a paywall so you will need to subscribe to the Sun-Sentinel to read the piece and we can not elaborate on the information that Hyde is reporting. Only that he cites a league source. The subscription price is $3.00 for an entire year and that is worth it. The article has a lot of intriguing information in it.
The deal apparently was for five years but there are some questions that should be addressed regarding the information.
Did the Dolphins actually offer Payton a deal for 5-year $100 million?
This is hard to say because it could just be speculative. The Dolphins were denied permission to talk with Payton by the Saints after he retired. If Miami reached out directly to Payton despite the denial, they would be in violation of league rules.
Payton denied talking with the Dolphins directly and his interest in the job. Payton said that a request was made and talks were through “intermediaries”. That is where the contract numbers could have come from. Chris Grier, the Dolphins GM told reporters earlier in the off-season that the Dolphins did inquire about Payton prior to his retirement announcement.
Payton also said that he didn’t want to coach this year and that if he had, he would have stayed with the Saints. So what does that mean for the future?
If Sean Payton wants to return to the sidelines after the 2022 season, he may find his job in New Orleans no longer available. The Saints hired Dennis Allen and unless this season is a miserable failure, they may not have a spot for Payton next year. That would open the door for trading him to the Dolphins.
Naturally, we have to look at the current head coaching situation in Miami. Stephen Ross hired Mike McDaniel this past offseason after firing Brian Flores. Would he part ways with him after one year if Payton became available? An offer of $100 million isn’t a number that is simply thrown away. As much as Tua Tagovailoa might have to play well enough to stop the Tom Brady talk, success this season may be what keeps McDaniel in Miami longer than a year.
If Ross is targeting or will target Payton again, the ideal situation might be for Payton to stay out of football for two seasons so McDaniel will get two years to show what he can do in Miami but if McDaniels first season goes horribly bad, as in near Cam Cameron bad, Payton will be another big topic for the off-season in 2023, along with Tom Brady.
One thing we are starting to learn and see is that Stephen Ross wants to win at any cost and if he is willing to offer an unprecedented salary to a head coach then we have to assume that he is willing to continue that pursuit until it is either not an option or his current choice proves he is the guy. Personally, I like what I have seen so far in McDaniel and Ross probably does too but clearly, this season may have more to it than we might know. Or I’m just making it out to be a lot more than it really is.