Jeremy Fowler of ESPN has a very interesting report about the NFL coaching carousel. He makes it clear that he does not have enough information to say jobs are being offered, but it seems like NFL teams could soon be competing with networks to land the coach they want.
Fowler reports that anonymous NFL executives have told him that three names have been mentioned as active NFL head coaches that networks would like to convince to leave the sidelines. Those names are Sean Payton, Pete Carroll, and Sean McVay.
Of those three, Carroll is the one that seems the most likely to happen. He is 70 and is coming off of a disappointing season in Seattle. If there really is a disconnect between himself and the team, the broadcast booth could offer him a chance to stay close to football.
Sean Payton has enjoyed tremendous success with the New Orleans Saints. Fowler’s source told him that Payton may love coaching too much to leave it behind completely, but could see a scenario where the coach uses a network to get out of New Orleans and into a new job.
“Maybe he goes and does that and returns one day to coach the Cowboys or something,” the source said.
It is hard to think of Sean McVay giving up coaching a team like the Rams at age 35 for a job in TV. Fowler points out that “from the traditional networks to new players such as Amazon, the salaries are mushrooming.” It is possible that TV could offer McVay the paycheck without the stress.
It should also be noted that McVay has been the source of TV rumors before. ESPN spoke with him about joining the Monday Night Football booth before the 2020 season, according to Andrew Marchand.
