Saints HC Sean Payton Has Ties With Sheldon White, Ernie Accorsi
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
The NFL isn't exactly known for its revolving door of new personalities. Coaches, front office personnel and players cycle back and forth through multiple teams, and everyone seems to know everyone else.
So, it's not a total surprise that Saints head coach Sean Payton has multiple connections to the Lions' current organization. While the two were at Miami of Ohio, Payton and Lions interim general manager Sheldon White shared an office and got to know each other well.
"Sheldon was coaching the receivers, I was coaching the quarterbacks and we were both on the offensive side of the ball," Payton said. "We've always remained close. … So I've always followed his career path and I'm sure vice versa and we've seen each other at the Senior Bowl or combines and kind of keep up to speed with Christmas cards and how his kids have grown. But he's a tireless worker and someone that I got along real well with the two years that we worked together."
New Lions president Rod Wood has said that White will be a candidate for the permanent GM position. And Payton is a coach whose name has been loosely batted around as a possibility to replace Lions head coach Jim Caldwell, should he be fired before next season.
When asked if he could see himself working with White again, Payton wouldn't say anything firm regarding his future.
"Here's the trick question, right?" he said. "You guys are something else. Listen, the hard thing in our league, and it's the same kind of to some degree even with players, you really get so focused in the moment right now and how to predict if your paths would ever cross again. I think he's a fantastic worker and sure, you would never rule out possibilities as to where you might, down the road, meet."
Payton has also worked alongside Ernie Accorsi, who was hired last month to help lead the Lions' GM search. The two worked for four years together when they were both with the Giants. And they came into contact again when Accorsi was leading his last search process, for the Bears, where he hired Ryan Pace away from New Orleans.
"Ryan, it was just a matter of time," Payton said. "In our league, it's really relatively small, so when you have a talented employee, whether it's a player, coach or front office, it's not too long before others know about it. So when Ryan had that opportunity, I did not have a chance to visit with Ernie specifically on Ryan's hire. I was the one trying to hide Ryan's phone number and sabotage in any way, shape or form him having a chance to leave."
Accorsi is now charged with finding that person to be the Lions' new GM, and according to Payton, he's capable of doing so. In Chicago, Accorsi hired Pace and head coach John Fox – which Payton also believes is a combination that works, and that Accorsi can bring to Detroit.
"I worked with Fox for three years and he's a close friend and someone that I trust dearly," Payton said. "I know that in their first year, they're doing much of what a lot of teams are doing, trying to change a culture and build a winner."
