AP

It’s become nearly a annual event in the NFL news cycle: The Sean Payton job speculation.

The strongest rumors came in 2012, while Payton was suspended and ESPN reported that Payton will (not might, will) become a free agent after the season. In 2013, when the Saints re-established themselves as a final-eight contender, no one suggested Payton could leave.

Last year, with the Saints struggling, the chatter re-emerged; Payton shot it down. This year, with the Saints struggling even more, it’s back again.

In his post-game press conference on Sunday, Payton didn’t address the ESPN report that multiple other teams will (not might, will) inquire about Payton’s availability after the season. That said, he wasn’t asked about it. On Monday, he was.

He dismissed the talk (again), but he pointed out that, eventually, the annual reports will be accurate.

“Let’s go back through it,” Payton said. “A year ago there was a report from Peter King. . . . I think that happens when you’re in year ten, I think, and you’re not having success. There’s this, ‘Well, you know, is there another job he’d be interested in?’ So my point if you predict that every year at some point someone’s gonna be right, whether you retire or you finish or you’re let go. I mean, I think that’s just a little bit of the nature of our game right now. I don’t know what else to say.

“I love it here. I’m close to my children. I bought a — just built a brand new place here. So you get tired of answering the questions and yet I understand you asking. And I’ll say what I said before. This is where I see myself. And I’ve said that now, for however many years.”

That won’t stop other teams from inquiring about Payton’s availability. And it may not stop the Saints from allowing another team to pursue Payton.

If definitely won’t stop the reports from coming.

“It happened last year, and it happened three years ago,” Payton said. “It was the Dallas Cowboys during the suspension year, it was the Dallas Cowboys two years before that. It was college before that. It was Michigan, Texas. I mean, it’s it. What else do you do?”

Payton then bemoaned that fact that the “lead news item” will now be the talk of his status instead of the team’s efforts to turn things around.

“I think our players understand this industry well enough,” Payton said.

Whether they do, Payton definitely does. So look for the reports to continue to emerge every year. And look for one of them to eventually be right, coincidentally or otherwise.

But keep in mind the point King made last night on NBC about advice that Payton surely has gotten at some point from one of his mentors, Bill Parcells: It’s better to leave a job one year too early than one year too late.