Kellen Moore was on the fast track to becoming an NFL head coach.
The New Orleans Saints weren’t going to be rushed into hiring their head coach.
Eventually, two timelines intersected in a mutually beneficial way when the Saints hired Moore two days after he coordinated the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense in their Super Bowl LIX victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
It was the right choice for the employer and the employee.
Moore, at age 36, is the youngest head coach in the NFL but one who has been preparing for this opportunity for a very long time. He decided he wanted to be a football coach while watching his father, Tom, coach his team at Prosser (Wash.) High School.
He started taking detailed notes even before he played quarterback on his father’s team. Moore recognized that he wasn’t the most athletic quarterback, and the key to his success was going to be his mental skill.
His smarts and film study helped him become a very successful quarterback at Boise State, which led to a six-year career in the NFL, mostly as a backup.
Though his studiousness didn’t lead to a notable NFL playing career, it did accelerate his preparation to be a coach.
Moore started his coaching career as the Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach in 2018 and the next year began a four-year stint as that team’s offensive coordinator, a position he held with the Chargers in 2023 before joining the Eagles last offseason.
Despite his relatively short resume, Moore has been on the radar of head coach-needy teams for a few years now.
When this hiring season began, seven teams were looking for new coaches, but each knew that they would have to be patient if they wanted to hire Moore because Philadelphia kept on winning.
Six of them made hires before the Eagles won the NFC Championship.
The Saints took their time.
They had preliminary talks with Moore, and he was intrigued from the start. Almost without exception, the former Saints players and coaches he encountered had told him “how great the New Orleans Saints organization is.”
The Saints were one of the most successful organizations under the Benson family ownership, general manager Mickey Loomis and former head coach Sean Payton from 2006 to 2021. When Payton resigned after the 2021 season, the organization understandably opted for continuity by promoting Dennis Allen from defensive coordinator.
But the team has now missed the playoffs four straight seasons, including Payton’s final one.
One can never be sure what role (if any) fate plays in events, but in retrospect there are signs that this partnership was meant to be.
The Super Bowl victory took place in the Caesars Superdome, which Moore visited twice this past season and will now be his home stadium.
The Saints were the most dominant team in the NFL during the first two weeks of the season, and when the Eagles visited New Orleans in Week 3, Moore said he was reminded that “this is a really hard place (for opponents) to play.”
Moore’s offense produced a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter that gave his team a 15-12 victory and triggered a seven-game losing streak for New Orleans. The tailspin led owner Gayle Benson to fire Allen despite Loomis’ hesitancy.
When it came time to undertake another coaching search, continuity wasn’t going to be an asset for any candidate, not even interim head coach Darren Rizzi.
There are similarities between Moore and Payton when the latter was hired as a young (42), well-regarded offensive assistant after New Orleans’ 3-13 season in 2005.
But Moore isn’t Payton and shouldn’t try to be.
Still, as the Saints navigate the worst salary-cap situation in the NFL and face decisions on several key players past their prime, Moore—like Payton before him—brings a fresh set of eyes in evaluating a roster that must be overhauled.
The money quote from Moore’s introductory news conference came when he said that taking on two new opportunities in the previous two seasons enabled him to do something essential to his growth—“to get out of my comfort zone.”
And that’s something that New Orleans’ stagnant franchise needs.
