Larry Fitzgerald goes to bat for Sean

Agreed. Loomis knows he’d be better off letting Payton walk for nothing in 2 years than taking a bad deal now.
And something that's never been answered clearly, is whether the unworked years of Payton's contract toll. It could be in the wording of the contract, which isn't public, or it could be an ambiguity that presumably somebody like Payton's good friend (/s) Roger Goodell would have to rule on.