The New Orleans Saints are 1-0 under interim head coach Darren Rizzi, but one upset victory won’t stop this team from looking outside the organization for their next leader. Following Sean Payton’s 2022 departure, the team turned to defensive coordinator Dennis Allen to take over for the future Hall of Famer. That didn’t work out, as New Orleans failed to make the playoffs despite year after year of contract restructures to kick the can down the road. The Saints could look to an external hire for their next head coach, and Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy could be their top choice.
An Andy Reid product, Nagy had an unsuccessful stint with the Chicago Bears but rehabilitated his image over the past few seasons in Kansas City. According to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, the one-time Coach of the Year “should be in the mix” for a head coaching job next year, and New Orleans could be the top fit.
Saints Could Hire Chiefs Matt Nagy As Next Head Coach
As mentioned above, Matt Nagy already had a stint as a head coach with the Chicago Bears. From 2018 to 2021, the offensive-minded coach recorded a 34-31 regular season record while going 0-2 in the postseason. After inheriting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky from the previous regime, Nagy guided the Bears to a 12-4 record during his first year in Chicago. While the season ended with the double-doink, he still earned Coach of the Year honors while helping Trubisky complete 66.6% of his passes for 3,223 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. The former second-overall pick made the Pro Bowl, and the future looked bright.
Unfortunately, the wheels soon fell off the wagon. Nagy’s quarterback-friendly scheme shielded Trubisky in 2018 but couldn’t compensate for his limited abilities once teams had extensive film on him. Chicago went 8-8 in each of the next two seasons before going 6-11 during the 2021 campaign with rookie quarterback Justin Fields. The Bears parted ways with Nagy following the campaign, and four years later, he could become the Saints head coach.
Nagy probably won’t be the NFL’s best coach at this point next year, but he deserves credit for going over .500 without a starting-caliber quarterback. Trubisky’s failings with Pittsburgh show Nagy was not to blame for his regression, so the Chiefs offensive coordinator deserves a shot to show what he can do with a top-20 quarterback. However, that opportunity might not come with the Saints.
Other Possible Fits
The Saints were not the first team to fire their head coach, and they won’t be the last. While the New York Jets are the only team actively looking for a new coach at the moment, organizations like the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Jacksonville Jaguars could fire their coaches at the end of the season. Only time will tell, but some landing spots could be better than New Orleans.
Ever since Drew Brees retired, the Saints have been stuck in a cycle of perpetual mediocrity. The constant restructures and refusal to rebuild means that the team is never bad enough to secure a top-five pick, but they’re never good enough to compete for a playoff spot. Stuck with an absurd amount of dead money, the team reportedly has no plans to embrace a rebuild and will effectively keep doing what they’ve done over the past few seasons. This might not be a good thing as the Saints look for their next head coach, as whoever wins the job will have to build a winner on the fly despite lacking the roster talent and draft resources to do so.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports
