Why would Sean Payton want to come back and coach the Saints?

The New Orleans Saints had to search for a new head coach last offseason because Sean Payton decided to shock the world by stepping away. It hasn't gone well with Dennis Allen as the head coach, as the Saints are 4-9 and in last place in the worst division in football.

Jeff Duncan wrote over the weekend that Payton wants to return to coaching in 2023 and said after speaking with people close to Payton, the Saints were the No. 1 team listed as potential suitors.

This makes absolutely zero sense.

Why would Payton leave a team, take a year off, and then decide to come back to the very team he left in the first place? Maybe I could understand if the Saints put together a solid season without Payton but that's been far from what's happened. New Orleans is one of the worst teams in the league.

Saints being Sean Payton's preferred coaching spot is laughable

The Saints do own the rights to Payton so if he wants to return to coaching and doesn't want to coach the Saints, they'll have to agree to trade him to where he wants to go. They might decide they don't want another team to have him leading the way but that'd be the only way I see Payton returning to the sidelines in the Big Easy.

Payton obviously stepped away from coaching for a reason. While we all have our theories, the one floating around about Payton being aware how long the rebuild was going to take and knowing Jameis Winston wasn't the guy at quarterback seems like it could have been a real reason for Payton leaving. Rather than coach a sinking ship, he chose to step away and see if he could up his stock for another team to trade for him down the road.

We'll see how this all plays out later on but after watching how bad the Saints are this year, why would Sean Payton want to come back and coach them?