Saints planned to interview Mike McCarthy; McCarthy didn’t garner enough interest from Saints and will take a year off

Sometimes reasons can be incredibly simple. I'm sure Mike McCarthy and his agent see him as having a similar resume to CSP who got $18mil/yr to coach the Broncos. The Saints might see McCarthy as a coach who wasn't retained and was "only" making $8mil/yr.

The back channel discussions might have never progressed past a gulf too wide in perceived appropriate compensation. It would make sense for McCarthy's agent to try to boost his client's worth over the next year.