NEW ORLEANS —The Saints and suspended coach Sean Payton will indeed be together again next season as the bounty scandal fades into history and the bid to win a second Super Bowl resumes.
Payton has agreed in principle to a multiyear contract extension, according to two people familiar with the deal.
The people told The Associated Press about the deal last night on condition of anonymity because it hasn’t been signed and final details regarding the length of the contract and financial compensation are still being worked out.
“Very happy it is official,” quarterback Drew Brees said in an email to the AP. “Never had any doubts.”
Payton was due to begin his seventh season as the Saints’ head coach in 2012 before being suspended for the whole season by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in connection with the NFL’s bounty investigation.
Payton signed an extension in 2011 that would have kept him in New Orleans through 2015, but Goodell objected to certain language in that deal, leaving Payton’s future uncertain until the deal was reached yesterday. The language in question in the previous extension gave Payton the right to opt out early if general manager Mickey Loomis left the club for any reason.
The new agreement, which was first reported by Fox Sports, also must be approved by the NFL.