ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) – The Oakland Raiders appeared close Tuesday to hiring Dallas Cowboys assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Sean Payton as their new head coach.

Several news organizations reported that Payton would receive a four-year contract to replace Bill Callahan, fired after a 4-12 season.

“I’m very excited to meet Coach Payton,” Raiders center Barret Robbins told The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

“I’m certainly happy for the organization that the process is over. You have to be happy, at least if you’re on offense. One of the first things I think he’ll be thinking about is who the defensive coordinator is going to be,” he said.

The Raiders made no official announcement on Payton.

“Nobody’s confirming or denying anything around here,” team spokesman Artie Gigantino said. “The process is continuing. As you know, he was here.”

The 40-year-old Payton, who would become the league’s youngest head coach, met with owner Al Davis for a second interview this week. And in the past, Davis has given chances to young coordinators with offensive minds who don’t have previous head coaching experience. Payton, one of four candidates to speak face-to-face with Davis, was the only person to come back for a second interview.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones told DallasCowboys.com Tuesday afternoon from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., that he spoke with Payton on the phone earlier that morning.

“I know they met for a few hours today,” Jones said of Payton and the Raiders. “But I don’t know much more than that. I know there hasn’t been anything official as of right now.”

Payton, who’s about four months younger than Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden, has a connection to the Raiders. He worked with Gruden and Callahan in Philadelphia in 1997 and ’98 as a quarterbacks coach for the Eagles. He then went to the New York Giants for four seasons as an offensive coordinator before joining the Cowboys in 2003.

The Raiders also had interest in Kansas City offensive coordinator Al Saunders and Dennis Green, who became the new coach of the Arizona Cardinals on Jan. 9.

Davis also has a vacancy at general manager after senior assistant Bruce Allen left for a similar position with the Buccaneers earlier this month.

The Raiders tied with three other teams for fewest wins in the league in the biggest collapse by a team that reached the Super Bowl the previous year. Oakland, plagued by injury last season, is an old team with several key free agents this offseason.

“You’ve got guys who are in transition,” Robbins said. “They don’t know where they stand. What a lot of guys want to know is where they stand because we all want to work and rectify the situation.”

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