drew brees got to his level under paytons tutelage...he wasn't close to the same player in san diego...
and like others have said if its full control tannebaum or full control payton I think I can handle the latter...although I'd much rather have him oversee the offense alone...got to do what you got to do to get a guy I guess
Everyone says this but the statistics disagree. In Brees final 2 seasons in San Diego it was only his 4th and 5th season in the league. He was still learning and crafting his game. Despite that his numbers were just as good his last two years in San Diego as they were his first two seasons in New Orleans.
Brees' final two seasons in San Diego
585/900 65% 7.48ypa 6735 yards 51td 21int 96.6 rating
Brees' first two seasons in New Orleans
796/1206 66% 8841 yards 7.33ypa 62td 35int 92.68 rating
The only thing that went up were the attempts, yards and interceptions. TD/int ratio got worse, rating got worse.
He also did that in San Diego despite LT sniping 46 rushing TD's those two seasons.
The Brees led Chargers scoring offense in his final two seasons were ranked 3rd and 5th in the NFL.
The Brees led Saints scoring offense in his first two seasons in New Orleans were ranked 5th and 12th.
I've always felt Brees made Payton while the consensus has always been the other way around. Only thing Payton did was took the reigns off Brees that he had playing Marty Ball in San Diego.
I really like what Payton brought to the Saints. He was the right guy at the right time and was a really good fit for Brees but people forget how good Brees was in San Diego because he was overshadowed by LT and the Chargers drafted Phillip Rivers to replace him after one down season early in his career.
What I don't like about Payton is his plug and play attitude for the LB position and his constant defensive problems. It's a fun brand of football to watch when it's hitting on all cylinders with a hall of fame QB. It's not a fun brand to watch when 3 of the last 4 seasons you have to suffer through 3 of the top 15 worst defenses in NFL history. This season we have already given up 30 TD passes. The NFL record is 37 and it isn't like we've been playing good QB's either. Guys like Mariota, Winston, Hoyer, Wheeden, Cousins and Bradford all lit us up. Manning hung 6 TD's on us and we won. If this team had Tannehill instead of Brees right now we'd be winless despite having the easiest schedule in the NFL.
It wouldn't shock me if Payton wanted out. The team is salary cap hell. We have $33.4 million in dead cap space, next season it's likely to be even more. People want to point at Brees contract but it's the 8th biggest contract in the NFL and he's giving us a huge return. It's just inflated the last two seasons because it was heavily backloaded and the Saints also restructured to get enough cap space for this season which pushed it up higher next year. The real problem is the even larger amount of dead money that is giving us nothing. The Saints have had some of the worst defensive drafts I've ever seen in the past 5-6 years, our big free agent signings have delt with injury, our best pass rusher decided to get stupid on social media, get in a fight with a hooker then started beating people with a belt on a beach just after we sign him to a massive contract. We've had some really bad luck on the defensive side of the ball but it took some really bad drafting, bad planning and bad coaching combined with it to get the Saints where they are now. Our LB's are dreadful, we can't generate a pass rush and Brandon Browner has the worst PFF grade for a corner in PFF's history combined with leading the league in penalties and he still hasn't been benched despite decent play from all the other corners. He's literally a one man wrecking ball and we continue to put him out there on Browner island, it's like a vacation home to even the worst WR's.
While Payton might not have complete control of personnel decisions on paper with the Saints rest assured in reality he does. I like him a lot better when he was just the cook because the guy can't buy groceries worth a damn.
What I do know is in a couple year stretch he got a divorce and was suspended from the league for a year in Goodell's player safety to cover his concussion lawsuit game and he hasn't been the same since. I really think he was a great coach and could be once again but a change of scenery may be needed for all parties involved. I'll be forever grateful for what he did from 2006-2011. It was like a dream come true for Saints fans. It's ashame we couldn't nab another Lombardi in 2011, that was the best Saints team ever, even better than the 2009 team.
Right now though, I couldn't be more indifferent. We can't do much worse with a hall of fame QB than we are now and it sure appears like Payton has lost this team despite him spending the entire offseason on building it on character and locker room leadership. I guess it's paid off because we lead the league in passing TD's allowed. We lead the league in passer rating allowed, even set to destroy the NFL record with a 116 opposing QB rating. We even lead the league in defensive penalties. Lots of leadership right there.