Just as Payton's role in the bounty scandal has been an ongoing saga with the NFL for the past year, so has his contract.

Payton confirmed the news, according to FoxSports.

As recently as March, when Payton was visiting NFL offices to appeal his yearlong suspension in the bounty scandal, he asked NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the status of his contract extension and was told it was unsatisfactory as it initially was constituted, sources said.

At issue in the contract was one specific clause that would have enabled Payton to walk away from the deal if general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended, fired or left the New Orleans organization, sources said.

The league believed that any such language in Payton's contract would set a bad precedent for other coaching contracts and rejected the deal well before Loomis was suspended for the first eight games this season for his part in the bounty scandal.

"The one contract that was sent into us ... we told him what the issue was," Goodell said. "Now, it's up to the team and Sean Payton. So until I get something back, it's up to them."

Dating back to roughly the start of this year, the two sides engaged in numerous subsequent conversations to try to resolve the issue but never did.

In the interim, the league has granted Payton permission to work for Saints owner Tom Benson's NBA New Orleans team, and the suspended head coach has been doing some spot work there to earn income.

In a statement issued Sunday morning, the NFL said it had "made no determination" on the status of Payton's contract for next year.