With the Dallas Cowboys in disarray, team owner Jerry Jones could be searching for a successor to longtime head coach Jason Garrett. Cross New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton off that list, though, because the Super Bowl XLIV champion signed a five-year contract extension with the Bayou franchise earlier in the 2019 season.

Payton, reportedly, used Jones and Dallas' interest in him as “leverage” over the Saints, forcing their hand in re-upping the former AP Coach of the Year to stay on the sidelines of the Superdome.

Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport via Saints Wire:

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“Last year after the season, through back channels, nothing official,” Rapoport said, “the Cowboys made it known that they would be interested in Sean Payton if he was interested in them. And obviously a lot of things would have to happen. Payton considered it, he helped use that leverage to land a new contract that was actually agreed to last winter, not earlier this season.”

Now the Cowboys are stuck looking for other options, even though the team is currently 7-7 after defeating the Los Angeles Rams badly on Sunday in Week 15 and in the playoff hunt for the NFC East title, it's been nothing short of a drama-laden season for America's Team. The Cowboys have two separate three-game losing streaks during the 2019 season and have to defeat their in-division rival Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins to earn a postseason berth.

Luckily for Payton—and the Saints—the New Orleans coach will have nothing to do with any ensuing drama, even if it partially helped him land an extension with the Saints.