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Just like every year, file this under ‘we’ll believe it when we see it.’ But considering the person reporting it, there might be some legs to our annual ‘Jim Harbaugh to the NFL’ rumors.
Instead of just a regular talking head spouting smoke, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman is reporting that there may be mutual interest between Harbaugh and the NFL this time around, with Harbaugh having just won coach of the year and having taken Michigan football to the College Football Playoff for the first time. Feldman:
What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, Jim Harbaugh was coming off a 2-4 season after which he took a sizable pay cut to remain the head coach of his alma mater. Fast forward a year and Harbaugh finally beat archrival Ohio State, led Michigan to its first Big Ten title in 17 years and won AP Coach of the Year honors.
And now, The Athletic is hearing rumblings, both from the NFL side and at Michigan, that Harbaugh might be tempted to leave the Wolverines to return to the NFL. “I think it’s real,” said one source this week when asked about the possibility of Harbaugh being interested in heading back to the NFL.
The Raiders head coaching job might be tough for him to say no to given his ties to the organization — he started his coaching career there in 2003 — and the fact that there’s already a solid quarterback in place in Derek Carr. He’s also friends with Raiders owner Mark Davis.
It is worth noting that the Raiders are on a three-game winning streak under interim head coach Rich Bisaccia and could become a playoff team if they beat the Chargers on Sunday. Whether Davis is looking to find a new head coach is yet to be determined.
The Bears might be another option.
Or, it could just be the type of thing we see every year: a coach leverages a big opportunity into a payday.
While we can’t see Harbaugh jumping ship after signing a full recruiting class and constantly saying ‘this is just the beginning,’ we also can’t write it off completely given the source.