Sean Payton’s original plan would have not included a return to New Orleans tonight

Sean Payton made his return to the Superdome as the coach of the opposing team tonight. It wasn’t supposed to be that way,

After Payton resigned from the Saints, there was a little-known (at the time) plan in place. Payton would become the coach of the Dolphins. And Tom Brady, who retired (for the first time) from the Buccaneers, would first become an executive with the Dolphins before eventually unretiring to become the quarterback.

The plan went sideways, due in part to the lawsuit filed by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores. (Miami hired Mike McDaniels as the team’s new head coach five days later.) And even though it was hardly a top secret in media circles, few breathed a word of the plan until the shit hit the fan in August, with the Dolphins punished severely for tampering with Payton and Brady, as part of the effort to bring them both to Miami.

So, no, Payton wasn’t supposed to be coaching the Broncos in New Orleans tonight. He was supposed to be coaching the Dolphins as of 2022.

Instead, he’s in the AFC West and Brady is also in the AFC West, as a minority owner of the Raiders.