After a seventh consecutive loss, the Saints are making a move on the sidelines. Head coach Dennis Allen has been fired, as first reported by Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. 
New Orleans started 2-0 in 2024, an encouraging sign for the team’s postseason outlook. Since then, however, little (if anything) has gone according to plan, with the offense suffering multiple injuries and the defense struggling to overcome a number of issues. On Sunday, the Saints lost to the Panthers in unwanted fashion. New Orleans outgained Carolina by a margin of over 150 yards while topping that figure on the ground and winning the turnover battle; over the past 20 years, no team had lost under those circumstances until yesterday (h/t ESPN’s Bill Barnwell).
No one contest is at the heart of any team’s decision to fire a coach, but in the wake of Week 9’s defeat today’s news comes as little surprise. Allen is meeting with the team now, Rapoport adds, and attention will soon turn to the question of who will take over the staff on an interim basis. On that note, Dianna Russini of The Athletic names special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi as a candidate to watch.
The Saints have indeed now named Rizzi as interim coach. The 54-year-old has head coaching experience at the college level, compiling a record of 18-23 with stints at New Haven and Rhode Island. He has been in the NFL since 2010, serving as the Dolphins’ special teams coordinator for nine years while also holding the title of associate head coach for a pair of seasons. Rizzi has been with the Saints since 2019, and since 2022 he has also served as an assistant head coach. New Orleans current sits fifth in special teams DVOA, a rare instance of success in an otherwise disappointing campaign.
Allen’s first head coaching gig saw him take charge of the Raiders for the 2012 and ’13 seasons. Only four games into his third season at the helm, he was dismissed. That was followed by a lengthy stint on Sean Payton‘s Saints staff as the team’s defensive coordinator. Once Payton departed, Allen was promoted and given a second opportunity to lead a staff. It has now ended in very similar fashion to his Raiders tenure, with a midseason dismissal coming down in Year 3. This marks the first in-season coaching change for New Orleans since 1996, when the team canned Jim Mora midway through his 11th season.
In 2022, the Saints posted a 7-10 record, with a strong defensive showing being weighed down by mediocre offensive production. The subsequent offseason was highlighted by Derek Carr‘s free agent signing, a move aimed at providing the team with a stable solution under center in the post-Drew Brees era. The former Raiders Pro Bowler showed improvement down the stretch, and the Saints improved to 9-8. That mark was insufficient for a postseason berth, however, and more significant changes were made on offense in response.
Longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael was replaced by Klint Kubiak during the 2024 offseason. The latter’s work in the run game in particular seemed to be on full display over the first two weeks of the year, but success on the ground or through the air has been hard to find since. Overall, New Orleans ranks 16th in total offense and 15th in scoring. The team’s defense – for many years a strength with Allen in place dating back to his time as DC – has regressed considerably, sitting 28th in yards allowed and 26th in scoring.
In the wake of those collective struggles, the Saints will move on in the hopes of sparking a turnaround in the second half of the season. Carr missed time but is now healthy, although New Orleans’ offensive line and receiving corps are both dealing with a number of notable absences. The team’s defense (including cornerback Marshon Lattimore) could become the subject of increased calls before tomorrow afternoon’s trade deadline. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero confirms, however, that a firesale should be considered unlikely even in the wake of this move.
Carr is owed a $30MM base salary next season, the third of his four-year contract. That figure is set to become guaranteed shortly after the start of the new league year in March, and with the Saints once again on track to face a myriad of cap issues his financial status will be worth watching closely. In addition to the team’s quarterback situation, a head coaching search will be a central storyline in 2025.
The GM needs to be next.
Payton left them in horrible shape. They need a complete reset from top to bottom. That starts with the man in charge of football operations. Whoever that might be. Seems like they keep trying to throw crap at the wall and spend to the cap. That never works.
Loomis has crippled them with dead cap money before Payton & Brees left & still has to perform magic just to get cap compliant
the decision makers should all be let go. from 21 they kept spending and adding void years as if they were right there ready to win. They didn’t even win their division let alone have a team who could overtake SF. every year they speak about how bad their cap space is and they just keep making it worse.
Eberflus should soon follow.
It’s a shame that they looked so promising early on before all the injuries. They need a reset, but Kubiak deserves another OC shot.
Agree. Hard to move the ball when your starting OLs are out and backup QBs are in.
Finally!! I’m still shocked he was able to coach this team to begin with this year. Granted they have so many cap issues and overpaid players but Dennis Allen wasn’t the right fit for this team. They should blow it up completely. Lattimore and others could fetch them valuable draft compensation. It’s a long way back to being competitive given the state of affairs they have currently. Yikes.
Good luck to whoever they bring in next year. Gonna have to work with an old roster and terrible cap situation
Along with an incompetent GM. Not an attractive opening for sure.
BB is waiting for the call!
NO chance Bill goes to NO. He will get something with an exasperated fanbase like Cowboys, Giants or Eagles.
Just trolling arty!..we know how much he loves BB
I wouldn’t mind BB in Buffalo
Uhh, New Orleans finished 7-10 in 2022. The NFL expanded the season to 17 games the year before.
As a Bucs fan damn! I could always count on him keeping them at the bottom.
And by “always,” you mean for 2.5 seasons.
I remember the first 2 games of the year. The saints were scoring at record points. Some even in the media called them, maybe one of the greatest offenses. Lmfao…after two games….now the coach is gone…wonder if the saints fans still have those bags to put over their heads
2027 provides open salary cap for Saints so they will need to suffer through a few more years of salary cap machinations to field a team over the next couple of years – maybe some new orleans skeletons can play special teams
I’m surprised it took this long. If I were to bet on the next HC it would be Aaron Glenn. Maybe just maybe the Detroit Lions make it to NOLA for the Super Bowl. It makes for a great storyline Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn coming over from the Saints and bringing that culture they had there with them.
It wouldn’t be a bad guess, except for the possibility of New Orleans being tired of a defensive coach. A lot of times, teams like to switch to the other side the next regime, so I could them pursuing Johnson or Slowik, plus other offensive candidates. Glenn could get the job still if the big name offensive guys go elsewhere.
Whomever takes the job will have one great incentive-the division looks very open and the Saints will have a great chance to compete in it as it looks right now. There’s not an entrenched division leader like the Chiefs, Bills, or Eagles to have to worry about, and the division isn’t stacked right now with good teams competing for the top like the NFC North or AFC North. There’s wide open winning at this time for the NFC South, and I think that that is a massively underrated concern for new coaches in picking new teams.
I think those are some good points, AK.
As much blame as Dennis Allen has taken, people never seem to mention that the Saints defense was solid under Allen’s tenure for the most part. The real struggle has been on the offensive side of the ball. They tried changing OCs, but nothing has clicked with any consistency. They’ll probably look to an offensive-minded HC to attempt to fix that.
This season is lost, but that division is plenty winnable moving forward. They’re not barren of talent. The OL could use some work, as well as the pass rush. But it is fixable. I don’t think any candidate would look at the job as a complete mess.
Agreed. The Saints have a few tools in the cupboard at a few places.
What’s the dead cap for trading Carr? He would make a lot of sense for the Jets next offseason if Rodgers decides to retire. It would reunite him with Adams once again and give the Jets’ young weapons a QB they could stick with for at least a few seasons.
You sure about wanting that for your young weapons? Didn’t someone call Carr out recently for putting his receivers in danger with his passes? And how he has a history of doing that or something? Not a Saints or Carr fan, so I don’t know, nor care enough to look it up lol.
ie. That pass to Olave that led to his injury
It needed to happen. Yesterday was the opening for them to give him the boot. Saints are in a bad spot, and not sure that it’s an attractive opportunity. They desperately need to get younger and more athletic on defense, and have had their fair share of injuries on the offensive side of the ball. In fact, having watched every incarnation of the team since its inception, this may be the absolute worst OL and receiving group in their history. The lack of cap space is also going to get them. I’d be trying to see what I could get for any contract I have. You know that you’re going to at least have the benefit of playing a last place schedule next year, so maybe, maybe you can cobble together 4-6 wins until the cap situation improves and the younger players develop. But man, that’s putting a lot on scouting because they have to hit on their choices. I’ll end my rambling by saying it again, the Saints are in a bad spot, and coaches will know that. Now, let me go find my old ‘Aints bags!
Without a new GM, they’ll just keep kicking the salary cap problem down the road and certainly won’t be an attractive opportunity for a good head coach prospect.
Lmao I’m loving this so much as a falcons fan
Looks like the Saints tried a new approach and placed a bounty on their HC. Any of those paper bags from 1980 available on Amazon or Ebay?
They were going to suck this year anyway, now they just need to tank for the next two years to get a better cap situation and draft the crappy Manning’s kid
@sweet, Cooper’s spinal situation ended his college career before he took a snap for Ole Miss. We will never know what he would have become. kinda a cheap shot there mate
And the replacement is … Gee imagine that, another NFL HC that looks like a minority of NFL players. The status quo and good ol’ boy network at its finest.
He does look like a majority of San Jose Sharks players though.
They picked an interim head coach from the staff. Whatever your thoughts on Rizzi’s looks are, that’s generally how interim coaching works.
Could it maybe just be that they promoted the coach that has oversaw the team’s most effective unit? Or maybe -just maybe- they elected to promote a man that has been in New Orleans since 2019, is respected by the players and knows the team, since they’re still in the middle of a season? Just saying.