The 49ers hammered out a new agreement with quarterback Colin Kaepernick quicker than expected, but it doesn’t look like that will also be the case for head coach Jim Harbaugh. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, negotiations on a contract extension for Harbaugh remain at an impasse for now. The Niners have made an offer, but the coach had yet to respond to it.
Whereas Kaepernick was entering the final year of his previous contract, Harbaugh still has two years left on his, so there may not be quite the same amount of urgency to finalize an extension quite yet. Still, it’s highly unlikely that the team and coach would head into the 2015 season without a new agreement in place, so if the two sides don’t work something out this summer, the 2014 season could be decisive in determining Harbaugh’s future.
As Florio observes, Harbaugh seems to want to be paid like a coach who has won the Super Bowl, even though he has yet to do so. If the Niners aren’t willing to pay that price, Harbaugh may be inclined to roll the dice on himself and his team and see how the 2014 season plays out — per betting site Bovada.lv, only the Seahawks and Broncos have better odds than the Niners to win this season’s Super Bowl, and adding a championship to his resumé would certainly improve Harbaugh’s leverage in negotiations heading into his contract year.