Saints' Sean Payton Says He's No Longer on NFL Competition Committee

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton told reporters Friday that he is no longer on the NFL's Competition Committee. 

The 57-year-old refused to get into specifics in order to avoid a fine. He had been on the competition committee since September 2017. 

Payton was one of three people to leave the competition committee this week, joining  Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy and Denver Broncos president of football operations John Elway.

The trio was replaced by Cincinnati Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel and Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich. 

When Payton was added to the competition committee in 2017, he said it was an "honor" and that he looked forward "to making contributions to this great game and working closely with my fellow competition committee members," per ESPN's Mike Triplett. 

Payton's addition to the competition committee was viewed as questionable following the NFL suspending him for the entire 2012 season after it found the Saints had a bounty program to reward players who caused injuries to opponents.

However, Payton had always been vocal about certain rule changes, which is probably why he was added to the committee in the first place. 

The competition committee reviews "all competitive aspects" of football, including playing rules, roster regulations, technology, game-day operations and player protection. It now has 10 members, which is up from the nine it had last year. 

There are now four former players on the competition committee in Reich, Vrabel, Baltimore Ravens executive vice president Ozzie Newsome and Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera.