Coaching Confidential: Inside the Fraternity of NFL Coaches Read Online Free PDF Page B

ligament].”
    In the recording, Williams told the Saints, “Kill the head, the body will die.” He also said, “Respect comes from fear” and “We never apologize for the way we compete.”
    It was the last game Williams coached for the Saints. It was too late to apologize. The damage had been done. Payton wound up in the NFL office three times. He had his team taken away from him for the 2012 season. It was his fault. The coach is responsible. The lesson learned: it was the worst $250,000 he never spent.
    Payton’s career derailed when the bounty scandal was revealed. It was a condemnation of him as an administrator more than of his ability to coach the game of football. At the time of his suspension, he was in the upper echelon of NFL coaches along with Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Mike Tomlin, and Mike McCarthy. He inherited a program in New Orleans that was about as low as it gets in the NFL. The city was in a shambles; it was not going to be a place that would attract free agents, and players with young families would be reluctant to relocate even though their inclination is always to follow the money.
    The Saints needed star power. They also needed a quarterback when Payton arrived in 2006. He immediately thought about trying to persuade Parcells to trade him Romo, who had yet to take over as the Cowboys starter. Payton was the point man when Romo signed with the Cowboys as a free agent in 2003 after he went undrafted following his career at Eastern Illinois, which is where Payton went to college. Payton was on the phone with Romo during the last two rounds and knew that if he didn’t get drafted, the Cowboys would face competition to sign him. As soon as the draft was over, Payton was back on the phone with Romo.
    “Hey, I know you’re disappointed. Do me one favor here. You got all these teams calling you. Just look at the depth chart of every one of these teams,” Payton told him.
    The Cowboys’ depth chart: Quincy Carter, Clint Stoerner, Chad Hutchinson. That was not an intimidating cast of characters. “If you can be smart enough here, be smart enough not to let the signing bonus get in the way, you’ll pick the right spot,” Payton said. “Now I know it’s the Dallas Cowboys and Bill Parcells, but you need to make this decision based on where you can make a team and compete.”
    Free agents in 2003 would get $2,500 to $5,000 as a signing bonus. The Cowboys offered Romo a bonus of $10,000. “High for a free agent,” Payton said.
    There were four or five other teams offering $10,000. The Cowboys increased their offer to $15,000. Parcells got on the phone with Romo. Jerry Jones got on the phone. Payton was working hard on Romo. Then Payton heard that one team, which he believed was Arizona, had jumped its offer to $25,000.
    “Tell him, shit, we’ll match it,” Jones said.
    “Honestly, Mr. Jones, I think we’re going to get him at 15. I think he wants to come. He’s smart enough to know this is a good opportunity,” Payton said.
    Ten minutes later, Romo called back and accepted the Cowboys’ offer. Payton had been in Dallas only a couple of months, but he had made a friend in Jones, who loves money. “To this day, Jerry says ‘I didn’t know you very well, but you saved me $10,000,’ ” Payton said.
    It made sense that after working in practice with Romo for three seasons, Payton would be interested in bringing him to New Orleans. Aaron Brooks started thirteen games and Todd Bouman started three games for the Saints in 2005. They needed a quarterback. “Dallas wasn’t going to part ways with Tony,” Payton said. “We made inquiries.”
    Parcells liked what he saw in Romo. He had signed DrewBledsoe, his former Patriots quarterback, in Payton’s last year in Dallas but invested enough time in Romo over three seasons and decided not to give up on him. Early in Romo’s fourth season, Parcells benched Bledsoe and promoted Romo to the starting job.
    Payton needed to find an