Coach Rumors: Payton, Browns, Colts, Jags

With six NFL teams currently in the market for a head coach, the future of Sean Payton has been one of the biggest questions marks around the league this week. We may soon have an answer on what 2016 has in store for the Saints head coach, though perhaps not as soon as initially expected. According to Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune (Twitter link), Payton’s Wednesday afternoon press conference has been postponed by an hour, to 2:00pm CT.

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the Saints are hoping GM Mickey Loomis can convince the longtime head coach to remain in New Orleans. However, if Payton decides he wants to pursue another job, the Saints will shift their focus to playing interested teams off one another in order to drive up his price, per Rapoport.

As we wait on Payton’s presser, let’s round up several more coaching-related notes…

• It looks like the Browns will be the first team to get a shot at interviewing the Bengals‘ coordinators. With Cincinnati scheduled to play on Saturday night, Cleveland plans on interviewing Bengals OC Hue Jackson on Sunday, tweets Rapoport. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com adds (via Twitter) that Bengals DC Paul Guenther is scheduled to meet with the Browns on Sunday as well.
• Alex Marvez of FOX Sports (Twitter link) hears that Ravens linebacker coach Ted Monachino, who has a history with Chuck Pagano, will be a strong candidate for the Colts‘ defensive coordinator vacancy.
• Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley indicated today that he’s prepared to cast a wide net for the team’s newly-opened defensive coordinator position — while there may be in-house candidates in Jacksonville, Bradley intends to do due diligence (Twitter link via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com).
• It sounds like 49ers linebackers coach Clancy Pendergast may be headed back to college. Ed Werder of ESPN.com tweets that Pendergast has been offered USC’s defensive coordinator job – a position he held in 2013 – and has received interest from Oregon too.