Odds of landing Sean Payton may be increasing for Arizona Cardinals
By Jim Koch
Many fans would love to see the Arizona Cardinals and Sean Payton come to an agreement when the two sides meet on Thursday.
Many members of the “Red Sea” are going to be constantly checking their phones on Thursday, monitoring a long-anticipated meeting between the Arizona Cardinals and Sean Payton. The Redbirds parted ways with head coach Kliff Kingsbury back on January 9th, and have been in search of an alternative ever since.
As hard as it is to fathom, there are a group of Cards fans who are not very high on Payton. They’ll cite the forfeiting of draft picks and a reported $20-25 million salary demand (money they aren’t paying) as reasons to go in another direction. Those who want the team win a Super Bowl, however, would love nothing better than to hear that Arizona owner Michael Bidwill has hired the highly-coveted Payton.
Just this past weekend, any chances that the Cardinals may have had of landing Payton appeared to be dead. The franchise asked for permission to talk to the California native back on January 11th, but went almost two weeks without setting up an interview. Had the Redbirds taken a pass on the one candidate who has actually guided a squad (New Orleans Saints) through a championsip-winning season?
Not a chance. This past Monday, news broke that the Cards were still very much interested in Payton. The interviews with Frank Reich, Vance Joseph, Ejiro Evero, Aaron Glenn, Brian Flores and Dan Quinn may have been nothing but practice for GM Monti Ossenfort’s sit-down with the popular Payton.
Arizona Cardinals are regaining momentum in their pursuit of Sean Payton
When it appeared that Arizona was bowing out of the Payton sweepstakes, the Denver Broncos emerged as the favorite for his services. A virtual meeting between the parties took place last week. The get-together apparently went well, prompting the Broncos to schedule a second interview with Payton that was supposed to take place on January 25th.
Much to Denver’s chagrin, Payton canceled that appointment. Rumor has it that the team’s ownership group was a little put off by that, and no one could blame them. At the same time, the Cardinals have to feel happy with the fact that Payton spurned the Broncos in order to meet with Bidwill and Ossenfort in the desert instead.
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Have the Cards saved the best for last in their quest to find a replacement for Kingsbury? What’s in front of the franchise at this very moment is a golden opportunity that doesn’t come along very often. That’s exactly why it has to be Payton or bust in Arizona’s latest hunt for a new head coach.
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