After striking a deal to bring Saints defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen to LSU, the Tigers are back to the drawing board after New Orleans refuses to release Nielsen out of his contract.
Jane Slater of the NFL Network was the first to report on Nielsen, and the contractual holdup Monday. Tuesday a series of reports tied off loose ends. ESPN's Mike Triplett reporting that Nielsen signed a new contract in New Orleans and will take over as assistant head coach after the tight ends coach Dan Campbell, who served that role previously, also was hired as Detroit's head coach.
Nielsen, who one reported called him Ed Orgeron's protégé, agreed to be LSU's new defensive coordinator. Nielsen played and worked for Orgeron in the past, and had a successful run as a college coach before taking the Saints' job in 2016. His contract, evidently, did not grant him an automatic release to coach LSU. The Advocate reports that Nielsen and Sean Payton met Tuesday morning and worked on that 3-year extension and promotion that settled the dispute and avoided a contact battle.
While the Saints' settled their issues, LSU is once again seeking a new defensive coordinator, missing on it's first two targets after Notre Dame scooped up Cincinnati defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman two weeks ago.
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