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Sean Payton Trade Rumors: Eagles among four teams interested in Saints coach

Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Eagles are one of four teams interested in trading for New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, according to a report from NFL insider Jason Cole. Here's what he had to say:

On Monday evening, Mickey Loomis, the general manager of the New Orleans Saints, and Sean Payton, the coach of the New Orleans Saints, for now, met to discuss the future for Payton.

And one thing has become clear, the Saints have set a low price if teams want to trade for Payton right now, and will allow him to leave if they can get a market for Payton in a trade. The reason for setting the low price is because Loomis wants to create a big market for Payton and believes he can get a big payoff. In other words, saying it will only take a second round pick, which was reported by Jay Glazer of FOX, is a way of getting multiple teams interested in trading for now him and then getting a bidding war for him among those teams.

And that’s a strong possibility, considering upwards of four teams are interested in getting Payton right now. Those teams include the New York Giants, where Payton has coached before, the Philadelphia Eagles, where he has also coached before and broke in with the NFL, the Miami Dolphins, which is a little bit more distant but still has an interest and a connection because of Bill Parcels, and finally the San Francisco 49ers, where the 49ers would like to have an established coach help turn the organization around.

Now what will in turn force Payton, and whether he’s able to leave, or wants to leave New Orleans, is ultimately about control. And he maintains that the kind of control that he has with the Saints, where he basically runs the organization and he runs the personnel … if he gets some of that or most of that kind of freedom with most of these jobs, look for Payton to look seriously at leaving New Orleans.

The Eagles' interest in Payton was first reported on Sunday evening. Paul Domowitch notes that Payton is believed to be at the top of Jeffrey Lurie's list. The difference is that this new report indicates the Eagles might actually be willing to trade for Payton, which could be a problem since Philadelphia doesn't have their own second round pick to give away.

Another big problem with the Payton rumors is the "control" aspect. The Eagles just fired Chip Kelly, who fought for extra control in Philadelphia's power structure last year. Lurie said the Eagles are moving towards a more "collaborative" power structure where Howie Roseman, the team's yet-to-be-hired personnel chief, and the team's yet-to-be-hired head coach will be in charge. It doesn't sound like Payton, who reportedly want a significant amount of control, fits into that model.

Ultimately, it doesn't seem like Payton will end up in Philadelphia.

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