The New Orleans Saints will be forced to start a head coaching search this week after it was reported that Sean Payton plans to step away from football. Payton had been mulling his future with the Saints since the end of the season, and after meeting with GM Mickey Loomis Tuesday morning, it was reported that the 58-year-old would not be returning to the franchise. Thus, the Saints have begun to seek a replacement for their longtime head coach, but the search will come with some major obstacles, per Ari Meriov.

The Saints find themselves in a less than favorable financial position, to put it kindly. In other words, their “financial maneuvering” of the past has left them vastly over the salary cap for the 2022 season. Whoever steps in as the Saints' head coach will have to figure out how to make the best of their cap situation, which currently projects the team to be $74 million over the cap, far and away the highest in the NFL.

Not only are the Saints significantly over the cap, but they find themselves without any semblance of a franchise quarterback, despite paying one in Taysom Hill. With little to no financial flexibility, the Saints will struggle to improve in the offseason after what was a disappointing 2021 campaign. They failed to make the playoffs this year, largely due to their injury woes, but without money to afford reinforcements in the offseason, the team figures to face a similar fate in 2022. Of the nine head coaching vacancies, the Saints' job may just be the least attractive in football.