Anthony Davis May Have Messed Up The Dallas Cowboys’ Chance At Sean Payton In 2019

When Sean Payton announced that he was “stepping down” as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints after many years, a lot of fans thought he was eyeing the Cowboys job.

While Mike McCarthy remains the head coach of Dallas, its common sense that Jerry Jones would view a potential Payton hire as a huge upgrade for his team. But at the end of the day, it looks like Payton is going to be content taking a year or two off coaching before he re-assesses the situation.

However, the Cowboys reportedly already botched their chance at Sean Payton in 2019.

According to a report, Jerry Jones was in talks with the Saints ownership to trade for their head coach. But after Anthony Davis was traded from the Pelicans to the Lakers, things got too complicated.

From Playmakers, a look at how close Sean Payton came to becoming the Cowboys coach in 2019 — and how Anthony Davis (yes, Anthony Davis) kept it from happening. https://t.co/4WdWFdgR6g

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 25, 2022

Per PFT:

“The year was 2019. The month, January. The Cowboys had won 10 of 16 games, along with a wild-card contest against the Seahawks. They lost to the Rams in the divisional round, 30-22. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones contemplated an upgrade from coach Jason Garrett to Sean Payton. Jones wanted to pull the trigger. Payton did, too.

Things unfolded quickly. The Saints had played in the NFC Championship, losing to the Rams on January 20. That week, Jones quietly made his move.

It was a delicate situation, for various reasons. First, the Cowboys had a coach. Jones wouldn’t have fired Garrett unless he knew he could have gotten Payton. Second, league rules (specifically, the Rooney Rule) require a diverse and inclusive search. Third, Jones had to ultimately know that, after going through the motions of a search, he’d be able to get Payton.

So a deal was worked out, behind the scenes. The Saints would have allowed the Cowboys to hire Payton. The Cowboys would have compensated the Saints for the rights to Payton’s contract. And Payton would have signed a new contract with the Cowboys.

It was ready to go. It was happening. It was locked, and it was loaded. Then came Monday, January 28. On that day, New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis announced he would not sign another contract with the team, and he requested a trade. (In July, the Pelicans traded him to the Lakers.)

Gayle Benson owns both the Pelicans and the Saints. Saints G.M. Mickey Loomis was, as of January 2019, the executive vice president of basketball operations with the Pelicans. Once Davis made clear his intention to leave New Orleans, Loomis told Payton that Loomis couldn’t be the common thread between a pair of such high-profile Louisiana departures.

That ended it, just like that. The Saints were no longer interested in essentially trading Payton to the Cowboys. In September, Payton signed a new contract. That deal has three years left on it.”

It sure looks like the Benson family was not prepared to lose two New Orleans icons in Sean Payton and Anthony Davis in the same year, so the whole thing fell apart.

Don’t be surprise if we continue to hear the Payton-Cowboys rumors in the coming days, months, and years, though.

There’s clearly some mutual interest between Jerry Jones and Sean Payton.

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