Stir-crazy Payton juggled virus, duties
It was surely a sign that Sean Payton is getting back to normal in his recovery from a bout with coronavirus – or certainly stir-crazy – when the typically fearless coach took to Twitter Sunday night and posted a few plays from the Saints’ playbook to engage in a group conversation.
A coach from the most paranoid sports league ever created?
“I’m scrolling and saw a (non-NFL) coach put up a play, saying, ‘Put up an empty play and tag it.’ So I drew one up, took a picture and put it up in the conversation,” Payton told USA TODAY Sports on Monday, two weeks after he was struck with coronavirus symptoms.
“That took off and led to another, then another, then led to a little history about Jerry Rice. For the better part of an hour I had some fun. Then it was like, ‘I’ve got to get off here. It was almost 11 o’clock.’ ”
For years, Payton, 56, has been one of the most compelling and engaging figures to talk to in NFL circles, largely because he has a way of wrapping his candor with wit and panache. Yet picking up the phone on Monday to hear Payton declare that he is “100% recovered” and cleared by doctors from coronavirus provided another type of context as he detailed information from the Centers for Disease Control that he seemed as familiar with as, say, a Drew Brees pass play.
“I’m in that unique group that they believe can’t get it again this season and can’t give it,” said Payton, the only NFL coach or high-ranking official known to test positive for COVID-19. “I’m waiting to hear if people like me are going to be able to give blood. I don’t know the specifics, whether that’s through a transfusion or plasma replacement.
“I know they’re looking to see if there’s a benefit to people who have had it and recovered from it and now maybe have the blood or the antibodies built up to help someone who has it.”
Payton called after finishing a conference call with his assistant coaches and other Saints staff members. Monday was technically his first day back to work – remotely, of course, as NFL team headquarters are shut down – and he needed to hold a call for 25 to 28 staff members to address specifics of an email sent to the staff that outlined scheduling for their preparation for the NFL draft.
The draft meetings teams typically hold this time of year to, as Payton put it, “stack the board,” will be conducted on the same timeline and extend for roughly two weeks. Rather than bunker down in the war room at the headquarters, the meetings will be held via conferencing.
The Saints will begin those meetings Wednesday.
“For every one of these teams, it’s obviously going to be different than what we’re used to,” Payton said. “We’re going to need to be more tech-savvy with the scouts.”
Payton believes the Saints have done well in following up with draft prospects since the combine, with travel eliminated and the top-30 visits from prospects scuttled. They have leaned heavily on video conferences for follow-up interviews with prospects.
Summarizing his key message in an email sent to Saints players, which also acknowledged an offseason timeline that doesn’t include the usual organized team workouts, Payton said: “First and foremost, take care of your families and yourself. That’s the message. All the other things are very small minutiae problems, compared to what we’re seeing on TV.”
Payton, engaged recently to Skylene Montgomery, said no one else in his circle of family or close friends has been infected. His parents are deceased. Although he didn’t indicate whether his older sister and older brother had been tested, he said they are “clean.” He also
said there are no issues with either of his children.
“Each day we hear of someone else – an athlete, a politician, or someone who is ordinarily newsworthy who has contracted the virus,” he said. “Look, as this thing hit the world, it obviously doesn’t have any boundaries in terms of who it can affect.”
Payton felt good enough on Sunday to go for a 3-mile run and planned to do likewise Monday. He said the symptoms were at their worst two weeks ago, when he returned from a trip to Arkansas where he attended a racetrack and watched one of Bill Parcells’ horses perform. He had flu symptoms, chills, aches and for one day, he said, a lowgrade fever. After being tested March 16, he said the worst of his symptoms had subsided by the time he received confirmation of the test results on March 19.
“You fatigue real easy,” he described of the worst of his symptoms. “I’d be up moving around, doing something, then you’d want to lay down again. That lasted three or four days. By the time I got the test results back I had begun feeling better. I had my appetite back.”
During his quarantine, he spent a lot of time on FaceTime with family and
friends, and watched plenty of Netflix. He even participated in a conference call with the NFL’s competition committee, in addition to tending to organizational tasks. So, yes, he sprinkled in work. Having moved into his new home last fall, there was also a punch list of projects.
“You get a little stir-crazy, but really it was a lot of rest and recovery,” he said.
Payton knows his condition and recovery are such a contrast to people who have suffered immensely and the many who have lost lives.
“These are very difficult times,” he said. “I think this month of April is going to be our most challenging. You’re listening to all the experts talk about it and for this country this is going to be an extremely difficult month, not just in New Orleans, but New York, California, Michigan, Washington. As we’re sitting here, just the rate this thing is accelerating is alarming. It’s unfathomable how quickly this thing can take a life of its own where there’s population.”
At least Payton has turned a corner and can resume his normal duties – even amid uncertain times.
In that regard, he’s one of the lucky ones.