NFL teams are gearing up to offer Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh huge contracts, according to Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman. However, Freeman says that Harbaugh “isn’t going anywhere anytime soon”.
I keep hearing several teams are going to make the Michigan coach mega-offers. He won’t take them. Harbaugh isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I don’t care if he’s offered a trillion dollars, a starship and a Cuban cigar. Harbaugh. Is. Not. Leaving.
That won’t stop teams from trying.
Harbaugh has produced terrific results everywhere he’s been. He went 44-19-1 in four NFL seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, reaching three straight NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. In nine years at the collegiate level, he has a 77-30 record and has turned three struggling programs into winners.
Freeman’s report did not specify which teams are most interested in Harbaugh, but here are a few that could be a good fit:
- The Rams had an exciting start to their first season in Los Angeles, but a four-game losing streak sucked all the air out. The pieces for a successful offense are already there with quarterback Jared Goff and running back Todd Gurley, and the franchise could get another top 10 pick in 2017. This is also a huge media market and it would, of course, set up two divisional matchups a year between Harbaugh and his former team, the 49ers.
- With Gus Bradley entering the season on the hot seat, there’s a good chance the Jaguars will be looking for a new coach after starting 2-6 this season. Blake Bortles hasn’t exactly worked out, but the team is in line to get one of the top quarterbacks or LSU running back Leonard Fournette in the 2017 draft.
- The Colts are once again one of the NFL’s most underwhelming teams. Maybe Harbaugh, a former first-round pick and Pro Bowl quarterback, would be intrigued by the chance to help Andrew Luck fulfill his potential.
Of course, the opportunity would have to be pretty extraordinary to draw Harbaugh away from Michigan. In two short years, he has turned a losing program into the No. 3 team in the country with a very good shot at going to this year’s College Football Playoff.
Harbaugh, a Michigan alum, has a good thing going there. Taking over for a middling NFL team probably won’t cut it.
