Tanking has become a hot topic in recent days, thanks to the claim from former Dolphins coach Brian Flores that he was offered $100,000 for each 2019 loss. Former Saints coach Sean Payton has some opinions regarding the value of tanking.
In his view, it has none.
His point is that trying not to win contradicts the importance of having a culture that values winning.
“This idea of tanking games to get the best player in our league is mythical, because you can’t turn off and turn on winning,” Payton said on PFT Live. “The idea that it benefits you as a club is crazy. Your locker room’s soul, you sell.”
Payton talked about the tanking he witnessed in Week 17 of the 2014 season, when the Buccaneers led the Saints by 11 points at halftime before pulling the plug, taking the L, and securing the first pick in the 2015 draft.
“When someone gets hurt, the coaches upstairs will say, ‘Coach, the corner’s out, the right corner’s coming in,’” Payton said. “And I just kept hearing over the headset, ‘They took out Lavonte David, they took out -- Coach, all their backups are in.’ And all that took place in the second half of a game, and you know what? We gladly won it then.”
Even though the Saints weren’t a playoff team in 2014, Payton wanted to win the game.
“The day that a guy walks in to tell me, ‘We’d be a little bit better off if we didn’t win.’ Again, it’s flawed thinking. And we want to play those teams.”
So, basically, Payton doesn’t care if it hurts his spot in the draft order. He still wants to win as many games as he can. And, as he said, there’s no example of an eventual Super Bowl-winning team that ever deliberately lost in order to get a better player. Winning must be the cornerstone of the culture; how a team gets who it gets is just a detail along the way toward putting together a team that values winning, no matter the circumstances.