Former Tennessee football players propped up, suffered from Sean Payton’s career

One of the toughest moments in professional sports that former Tennessee football fans had to deal with was Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts losing Super Bowl XLIV to the New Orleans Saints 31-17. It was Sean Payton’s and Drew Brees’ only title win, and it cost UT’s favorite son a shot at another ring.

Payton who is rightfully beloved for what he did in New Orleans, has let the Saints know that he is stepping down after 15 years on the job, initially reported by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. While his career is highlight by that one game as a former Vol’s expense, it’s also marked by success thanks to lots of other former Vols.

Maybe it was because when he was assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Payton was there when Jason Witten fell to the third round and then emerged into a superstar. Whatever the reason, he often looked to Tennessee football to build up the Saints.

Following his first year, when New Orleans went to the NFC Championship game, Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis took two Vols in the 2007 NFL Draft. They spent their first-round pick on Robert Meachem, who just broke the single-season UT record for receiving yards in a game, and their seventh-round pick on linebacker Marvin Mitchell.

Meachem didn’t play his rookie season due to a knee injury, and New Orleans went 7-9. The next year, though, they went 8-8, and discussions of Brees as a true franchise quarterback began. We know what happened in 2009. They won the Super Bowl.

By that point, three players were key to New Orleans. Meachem tied Marquez Colston for the most receiving touchdowns that year with nine and also had over 700 yards on the season. Mitchell was a solid backup who finished with 27 tackles, 23 of which were solo.

Most notably, Jabari Greer, who had been in the league since 2004 but was not drafted, signed with New Orleans earlier that year. He started the first half of the season and then got hurt the second half. However, he returned for the playoffs and had a huge role in them winning it all.

Greer, Mitchell and Meachem were all part of that Saints team over the next two years. In 2011, Payton lost Mitchell but added two defensive tackles from Rocky Top, Turk McBride and Aubrayo Franklin. He once again came close to winning it all.

We all know what happened in 2012, when he was suspended for the year due to bountygate. New Orleans also cut bait with two key players, Meachem and Franklin, and they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

When Payton came back in 2013, Meachem was brought back, and although he lost McBride, Parys Haralson, one of the most productive UT players in the pros at the time, was also added. New Orleans went 11-5 in a rebound year and reached the second round of the NFL Playoffs.

After that, though, they began to rely less on former Tennessee football players, and it showed. They still had Meachem and Haralson in 2014, and they added Austin Johnson. However, they lost Greer, and Meachem only started two games. Johnson only started one. New Orleans went 7-9.

The next year, Johnson was the only former Vol on the team, and in 2016, they had no former Vols. Both times, they went 7-9, but then Payton and co .went back to finding unheralded Vols who would turn into major steals for them.

Alvin Kamara was the headliner of those players, and he was the first one. In 2017, he fell to the third round of the draft, and the Saints swooped him up. Immediately, Kamara revitalized New Orleans’ offense, and he has made the Pro Bowl every year in the league. With him and Brees, the Saints would make the playoffs each of the next four years.

Now, Kamara was the most effective player, but Payton got more former Vols as well. Tony McDaniel was a backup on the 2017 team. Kamara remained the only player on the 2018 team. In 2019, though, Payton played Shy Tuttle, an undrafted free agent, down the stretch of the year. He has since inked a deal with New Orleans.

A year later, he began using Marquez Callaway, another undrafted free agent, at receiver. Callaway also inked a long-term deal with New Orleans and was their No. 1 receiver in 2021. Tight end Ethan Wolf was added as a backup, and Bryce Thompson made the team as an undrafted free agent defensive back but was injured this year.

If not for injuries at quarterback, New Orleans would have made the playoffs. However, Payton now retires with five former Tennessee football players technically on the Saints’ roster and at least three likely to be on there next year, maybe more. It’s safe to say that despite what he did to Manning, he and other former Vols did a lot for each other.