Sean Payton Says Saints Have No Interest in Antonio Brown After Raiders Release

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton shot down the likelihood of his team adding Antonio Brown following Brown's departure from the Oakland Raiders.

"If you're asking if we have any interest in him [Antonio Brown], no," Payton said Saturday, per Herbie Teope of the Times-Picayune.

The Raiders announced earlier in the day they were parting ways with Brown. ESPN's Field Yates noted he's free to sign with another team starting at 4:01 p.m. ET.

Brown hasn't suffered a serious injury or received a lengthy suspension that will leave him out for a chunk of the 2019 season. Despite that, his value has taken a serious hit following his tumultuous and brief tenure with the Raiders.

Brown turned 31 in July and is coming off a 2018 campaign in which he caught 104 passes for 1,297 yards and an NFL-high 15 touchdowns.

Some team is going to give him another chance; the Saints don't make sense as that team.

New Orleans already has one of the league's best receivers in Michael Thomas, who just signed a five-year, $96.25 million extension with the team. Although Brown would obviously help the passing game, he wouldn't address an area of obvious need.

The Saints have only $104,301 in available salary-cap space as well. Assuming Brown wants to get paid after losing a little over $29 million in guaranteed money, New Orleans general manager Mickey Loomis would have to get creative in order to fit him into the roster salary-wise.

NFL Network's Michael Silver tweeted in March that fans should "keep an eye on the Saints" as Brown was engineering his exit from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Any enthusiasm they might have had for possibly acquiring him in the spring appears to have faded completely.