Alumni: September 2008 Archives

FoxSports.com (via Profootballtalk.com) reported on Sunday that New Orleans Saints head coach and Naperville native Sean Payton got a new five-year contract this week.

Payton, a 1982 graduate of Naperville Central, will have a salary that puts him in the top five in the NFL for head coaches.

FOX Sports has learned that Benson this week ripped up head coach Sean Payton's current contract agreement and has rewarded him with a new five-year contract -- a deal which catapults him among the five highest-paid head coaches in the NFL.

Payton now joins the upper echelon in coaching salaries and is presumed to be behind only Seattle's Mike Holmgren, Denver's Mike Shanahan, Tennessee's Jeff Fisher and New England's Bill Belichick.

According to NFL Films President Steve Sabol, Saints head coach Sean Payton agreed to be the featured team on HBO's Hard Knocks but only if filming lasted three weeks instead of the recommended six.

Payton, a Naperville Central grad, became the featured subject today when ESPN 1000's Waddle and Silvy asked Sabol who might be the next highlighted team. Sabol did not offer Payton's reason for requesting camera time be cut in half, but Sabol admitted the show is very invasive and that it maintains the last call over all editorial content.

Should Payton have taken the deal?