This could be big. The New Orleans Saints are interviewing two head coach candidates Friday, including hotshot Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady and their own interim head coach Darren Rizzi. The news was first reported by CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones.
Rizzi is said to have a lot of support in the building, and he has tight bonds to the coaches who have led two of the NFL’s biggest cultural turnarounds in recent years — Dan Campbell with the Detroit Lions (who Rizzi coached with on the Miami Dolphins, and again in New Orleans) and Sean Payton with the Denver Broncos, who brought him to the Saints in the first place. That influence matters and general manager Mickey Loomis could view him as the right pick to lead a rebuild, despite his 3-5 record last season.
Coincidentally, the Broncos dismissed special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica on Friday morning, which opens up a new opportunity for Rizzi. He’s an obvious pick for that job if he doesn’t get the full-time head coach position with the Saints given his background on special teams and experience with Payton.
But the real highlight here is Brady. His stock hasn’t been this high since he called plays for the LSU Tigers’ 2019 national championship-winning squad, having defied Payton’s advice to leave an assistant coaching job with the Saints for that opportunity. Brady has earned a lot of credit from Bills star quarterback Josh Allen for their resurgence the last two years and he could be a real candidate for the Saints.
Brady’s interview will be held virtually, per NFL rules, while Rizzi will get to sit down with Loomis first since he’s already under contract with the Saints. If they go well we could see second interviews scheduled (and in-person for all candidates) as soon as next week.