Cowboys 'Fingerprints': Troy Aikman No. 1 FOX Replacement? Saints Ex Coach Sean Payton

FRISCO - There are Dallas Cowboys fingerprints all over the way the NFL on national TV works - so much so that the Fox Sports replacement for Troy Aikman even has a tie of sorts with The Star.

According to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton - so knotted with Dallas that his recent retirement featured almost as many questions about a future with the Cowboys as it did about a history with the Saints - is negotiating with the prestigious network.

"I think I’d like to do that,'' Payton said recently. "I think I’d be pretty good at it.”

Payton, who announced that he’s stepping away from the Saints earlier this year while planning a career in media, could potentially join Joe Buck in the broadcast booth. It's also possible that Buck, while still under contract to Fox, would make his way to ESPN to join Aikman on "Monday Night Football,'' as is the in-the-works plan.

Another name that could be in the mix for the No. 1 Fox analyst role is Greg Olsen, who is the No. 2 guy there now. Rams coach Sean McVay and retired QB Tom Brady are other names mentioned in conjunction with TV vacancies.

Front Office Sports believes Payton could receive a contract worth $10 million annually from Fox Sports. That's pricy for a guy who has never done it before ... but as Aikman may be in line to make $18 million annually (as Tony Romo does at CBS), "pricy'' is sort of how this works.

Meanwhile, one scenario for the former Cowboys great Aikman at ESPN would be to not bring over Buck, but rather to lure NBC's Al Michaels as Aikman's play-by-play partner.