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Opinions vary on the Arizona Cardinals' hiring of Jonathan Gannon as head coach barely more than a day after the Philadelphia Eagles—for whom he was defensive coordinator the last two seasons—were absolutely gashed by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.
It's not just Philadelphia's extremely disappointing defensive performance with the Vince Lombardi Trophy on the line that's led many to criticize Arizona's decision to bring in Gannon, though. From the moment Kliff Kingsbury was fired, an especially vocal subset of Cardinals fans were clamoring for their team to hire Sean Payton—and this latest news will only make their carping louder.
During a Thursday appearance on Arizona Sports 98.7, owner Michael Bidwill admitted that the New Orleans Saints' requested draft compensation is ultimately what came between Payton becoming Arizona's next head coach.
“We spent a lot of time. The issues around coach Payton had nothing to do with the money, the compensation we would be paying him,” Bidwill said. “It was all the compensation, the draft compensation to the Saints. We just weren’t willing to go with what the Saints wanted us to give up. It would have been too costly to the team for us to rebuild that roster. It was really a series of tradeoffs. I still felt like we got great coaches out there that can get this team turned around. I think we were right when you look at JG.”
Payton became head coach of the Denver Broncos on January 31st after the team sent its 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 second-rounder to New Orleans in exchange for the former Coach of the Year and Saints third-rounder in 2024.
While that's a steep price to pay for pretty much any player, let alone a head coach who's spent the last two seasons out of the league, Denver was nonetheless willing to meet it, drawing rave reviews from incumbent players in the process.
Would Arizona have been better off ponying up the dough for Payton than giving Gannon his first NFL head-coaching gig? We'll see what happens when the 2023 season kicks off. Come draft day, though, rest assured the rebuilding Cardinals will be glad to have hung onto its highest-value picks.
