Winston T. Boogie
Senior HTF Member
Maybe he was never that close to being hired in the first place. Some in the media had Harbaugh to the Broncos as pretty much a done deal, too, and it was never anywhere close to happening.
Harbaugh was apparently yanking everybody's chains and was not going to return to the NFL. So, he was just playing to get more money from Michigan, which he pulled off. Payton was much desired by the Broncos until they actually talked to him, where something went wrong. After his interview both sides claimed they were no longer interested. On Payton's side, I believe what they claim is they felt someone in the ownership group would be too much of a meddling owner and he wanted nothing to do with that. On the Broncos side, I think they just did not feel the compensation to New Orleans and the cost of Payton would be worth it...or whatever was said in the meeting did not please either side.
Most of the teams seem uninterested in Payton because the cost is so high and I am sure his demands are more that most everybody else that they interview. He's running out of teams to go to, the Broncos, Panthers, Cardinals are all out. The Rams got McVay back. The Colts don't want him. The Texans don't seem a likely landing spot. So, I think he remains in broadcasting. I don't think it helped when the Saints supposedly raised the level of compensation they wanted for him to more than just 1 first round pick.