NFL Media’s Ian Rapaport is reporting that Sean Payton will remain the head coach of the New Orleans Saints.

Sean Payton will remain Saints coach.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 6, 2016

Payton has two years left on his current deal that pays him upwards of $8 million per season.

This move makes sense for the Saints because they’re not quite ready to waive a white towel on their current regime with Drew Brees at quarterback.

Nor should they.

Although the Carolina Panthers were regular season world beaters this year, finishing 15-1, there’s no guarantees that will be the case in the near future.

The Saints missed the postseason by three games in 2015, and lost five games by one score or less en route to their 7-9 campaign.  A few more plays here and there and they’d be a dangerous Wildcard team.

Even if New Orleans were to move Brees for a slew of future draft picks and give the franchise a reboot, who better to be in charge of it than Payton?

He’s beloved in the city, and the activity by the number of franchise’s looking to talk to him proves that he’s a sought after commodity.

Why get rid of one of the best coaches in football for a second or third-round draft pick?

Although it will always be a players’ league, coaches like Sean Payton don’t come around all that often.  New Orleans is a better team with him coaching and there’s no reason to bail as long as Brees is still in the fold.  If the team has another disappointing campaign in 2016, they can revisit the idea of dealing their head coach as there will still be plenty of interested parties.