Sean Payton Says Saints Have Fired Rob Ryan, Dennis Allen New Defensive Coordinator

It is now official: Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has been fired and Dennis Allen will take over the position. Sean Payton made the announcement this evening on his WWL radio show.

"I'm disappointed for Rob it didn't work out. He's a fantastic staff guy. He's a guy that was respected greatly not only in the locker room but by his peers."

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"We just had to, at some point, look closely and give this (firing Ryan) an option because the direction we were going wasn't good."

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"We really struggled with substitutions and getting lined up and getting our guys the defensive call and being able to function."

This comes after reports this morning that Ryan would be fired, but Payton refused to acknowledge the move during his press conference this afternoon. Cam Jordan told Kat Terrell that Rob Ryan was, in fact, still defensive coordinator at this morning's meetings.

But how much better is Dennis Allen going to be as defensive coordinator, considering he was already calling the coverages and the coverages weren't very good...

The #Saints are promoting Dennis Allen to defensive coordinator, source said. He has been calling the coverages, anyway.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 17, 2015