Saints will interview Mike McCarthy in person during this week, Jan. 20-Jan. 25 [Underhill: McCarthy would have to be the current favorite]

silverbullet said
He's a massive upgrade to Allen. I'll give him that.

Not a very exciting hire imo. He's at least competent which is a million times more than anything I can say for Dennis.

This is a very low floor, low ceiling hire imo.

Not sure a 61 year old is the right guy for a team that won't be good for 4-5 years.

This is a hire that will keep Mickey his job. They won't completely bottom out but they aren't going deep in the playoffs either.

Allen is low floor, low ceiling.
McCarthy at very worst is middle-high floor, middle-high ceiling. A massive upgrade wouldn’t have low floor, low ceiling.

McCarthy can be a division title winner, wildcard contender at worst which are the highest Allen was striving to be. He’s a proven deep playoff coach who can advance a round or more in most of his seasons as a HC.

Saints haven’t reached the playoffs since the 2020 season. McCarthy is a coach who can lead the Saints to the postseason again and see what happens from there.

Other candidates have promising backgrounds as coordinators but unknown at the HC level. I think the risk of them failing and underproducing is as high as their chances of coaching winning seasons.