Veteran NFL reporter clarifies situation with Jim Harbaugh amid recent rumors

Would Jim Harbaugh leave a great situation at Michigan for another stint as an NFL head coach? Bruce Feldman of The Athletic seems to think so. But are the Raiders as interested in Harbaugh as originally reported?

Vic Tafur says we need to pump the breaks a little bit.

After all, what’s the downside to hiring Harbaugh? He went 44-19-1 in four seasons at the helm of the San Francisco 49ers, including three trips to the NFC Championship game.

Harbaugh, a former Michigan and NFL quarterback himself, coached the Raiders QB room as recent as 2003. “Once a Raider, always a Raider, Davis likes to say,” Tafur pointed out.

It’s no secret Harbaugh wants a Super Bowl ring and is willing to take any job that’s the right fit, not just the Raiders job, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. His brother, John, robbed him of that during Super Bowl XLVII where the Ravens defeated the 49ers 34-31 in 2013. Two years later, Harbaugh took the Michigan job and until this past season, didn’t look like it was going to work out long-term.

Over 25 percent of NFL teams will likely be looking for a breath of fresh air on the head coaching front, so who’s to say Harbaugh should be limited to just Las Vegas?

The Vikings, Bears, Broncos, Dolphins and Jaguars are the other five teams to have already fired their headman and with at least a couple more firings incoming once the postseason winds down, Harbaugh has options.

But with all the buzz of Harbaugh to the NFL building up as the days go by, it almost seems inevitable he heads out of Ann Arbor. But why?

He just led Michigan to their first win over Ohio State in 17 seasons, not to mention their first College Football Playoff appearance in school history. Harbaugh earned $1.5 million in incentives from winning their division and conference as well as their playoff berth. Fans are reeling for more, so why not give them what they want?

Harbaugh’s current contract runs through 2025 after re-signing during the offseason, but the Wolverines cut his pay in half. Harbaugh’s base salary for 2021 dropped to $4 million — he had been paid over $8 million in 2020.

Money doesn’t seem to be an issue, as he gave that $1.5 million bonus to help Michigan Athletics employees that had their pay cut due to the pandemic.

So the questions remain, if not the Raiders, who?

If not the Raiders, why?