Todd Grantham, who interviewed with Nick Saban for the Alabama football defensive coordinator position, has chosen to return to the NFL coaching ranks as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints, sources told Chris Low of ESPN.

Grantham, 56, was one of Nick Saban's top candidates for the Alabama football defensive coordinator position, which opened up after Pete Golding left the program to take the same post with the Ole Miss Rebels in January.

The veteran defensive coach has NFL experience, as he was the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator from 2005-07- and he has 11 years of coaching experience in pro football as a whole, likely factors in the Saints' interest in him.

New Orleans, who lost both of their co-defensive coordinators, will surely benefit from the presence of Todd Grantham.

Meanwhile, Saban and Alabama football, who lost out on one of their top offensive coordinator candidates in Washington's Ryan Grubb, have seen the same thing happen in their defensive coordinator search.

Saban, who has expressed interest in Grantham two other times, will now have to keep going down his list of Alabama football candidates.

Fortunately, he seems to be close to finding his guy to coach the offense, as Notre Dame's Tommy Rees reportedly emerged as the top target on Thursday.

On the defensive side of things, Alabama football has also expressed interest in former defensive coordinator and embattled ex-Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, though he could incur penalties from the NCAA after the Volunteers were charged with 18 Level I infractions during his tenure.

Losing out on Todd Grantham certainly hurts, especially given how important a Saban defense is to Tide fans.

Whoever Alabama football hires will inherit Golding's ninth-ranked defense from the 2022 season.

Unfortunately, it won't be Todd Grantham.