Saints Rumors: Mike Vrabel, Aaron Glenn Linked as HC Candidates After Allen Firing

The New Orleans Saints face the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football, but their future and the vacant head coaching position was a focal point of ESPN's pregame show.

"They're going to heat up their coaching search toward the end of this season," Adam Schefter reported. "One of the candidates expected to be square on their radar will be the [Detroit] Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who's coached in New Orleans, has a history with the franchise. The organization knows him well.

"I also expect the organization to have some level of interest in the former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel. And of course, there will be other names."

New Orleans fired Dennis Allen after a 2-7 start to the season that featured seven consecutive losses and gave the interim position to Darren Rizzi.

Rizzi has performed fairly well with a 3-2 record through five games, although the team is simply playing out the string on a lost season at 5-9. Spencer Rattler is starting at quarterback against the Packers, which is not the direction the team envisioned at the start of the season.

Whoever the Saints hire will be under some pressure, as they haven't made the playoffs since the 2020 campaign and will be expected to turn things around in a winnable NFC South.

Vrabel is the biggest name of the coaching cycle now that Bill Belichick accepted the North Carolina job. He has already been connected to multiple teams this season with some of the speculation even extending to the college game and his alma mater Ohio State.

That the Saints could see him as a candidate comes as no surprise, as he led the Tennessee Titans to three straight playoff appearances during the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons. They advanced to the 2019 AFC Championship Game during that stretch that also saw Vrabel take home the 2021 Coach of the Year.

As for Glenn, he doesn't have head-coaching experience but he is familiar with the Saints.

He was their defensive backs coach for five seasons from 2016 through 2020 before the Detroit Lions hired him as the defensive coordinator ahead of the 2021 campaign. Detroit has been one of the best storylines in the sport during his tenure, as it reached the NFC Championship Game last season and sits atop the NFC standings this season after previously not winning a playoff game since the 1991 campaign.

Detroit is dealing with a number of injuries this season but is still on the short list of realistic Super Bowl contenders. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is also generating interest as a potential head coach, underscoring the work the Detroit coaching staff has done in recent years.

Perhaps the Saints will be the one to hire one of them.