With legal drama engulfing New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and the NFL keeping close tabs on a potential ownership change, there is a "steadily increasing possibility" that head coach Sean Payton and some front-office executives will depart the franchise in the offseason, a league source told Yahoo Sports.

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One of the primary issues is whether Benson's estranged daughter, Renee Benson, and her two children – Rita Benson LeBlanc and Ryan LeBlanc – can gain a stronger grip on the Saints somewhere inside a tangle of ongoing litigation, the source said.

The NFL owner is engaged in legal and financial wrangling on a number of fronts with Renee Benson and her children, two of which impact some aspect of ownership in the Saints. The first is an appeal of a June court decision that ruled Tom Benson competent to rule over his estate, something Renee Benson and her lawyers have disputed. The second is a federal lawsuit filed by Benson against trustees who blocked him from removing the stakes his estranged relatives have in the Saints (roughly 60 percent of non-voting stock in the team) and Pelicans (95 percent). Boiled down, Benson is attempting to forcefully remove Renee Benson and her children from ownership in the sports franchises by trading their stock shares with a comparable financial package. Trustees blocked the move and Tom Benson is suing them.

If Renee Benson gets a court to overturn the decision that her father is competent to run his affairs, it would put her in position to gain control of both pro sports teams in the future, a second source familiar with the legal case told Yahoo Sports. And if the forced asset swap fails, Tom Benson's estranged family would still retain the majority of stock in the Saints (albeit non-voting shares). That potential mess has created a cloud that could impact the future moves of Payton and others.

"If [Renee Benson] gets control of the team, a lot of people [in the franchise] are worried that she could fire everyone who has been loyal to Tom," the league source said. "They're waiting to see what happens."

One of those people, the league source said, is Payton, who is loyal to Tom Benson.

"Sean has some outs in his deal," the source said. "If there is an ownership change, he has an out. He has some other outs, too. There would be a lot of interest in him – maybe four or five other teams would be interested. … I don't think he's thinking about it right now. He's not pursuing anything. I think he wants to see what happens like everyone else. But considering everything, if I put a percentage on whether he'd be the Saints coach next year, I'd say [it's] 50-50."

The NFL Network reported Sunday that the team "would be inclined to let Payton explore other opportunities" regardless of any change in ownership. A second league source indicated late Monday night to Yahoo Sports that the Saints are not inclined to let Payton leave without getting some compensation in return. Whether Payton could force his way to another team through aforementioned "outs" might be a matter of interpreting contract language.

Payton is 90-57 in nine seasons, including six playoff wins, but the Saints haven't advanced beyond the divisional round of the playoffs since winning the Super Bowl following the 2009 season. The roster has recently had salary-cap issues, and most glaring is there's no certain replacement for quarterback Drew Brees, who turns 37 in January and has one whopping year ($30 million against the cap) left on his deal.

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