1:37pm: Providing a further update to the Raiders connection in particular, Pauline reports Harbaugh would be interested in having quarterback J.J. McCarthy with him in Vegas in the event he took that job. The latter – whom Harbaugh recently termed the greatest QB in Michigan history – is one of several passers in contention to be selected in the first round of this year’s draft, although he is ranked below the likes of Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels.
Entering Week 18, the Raiders were on track to hold the No. 11 pick in April’s draft. Plenty will change in that department over the course of the day’s action, but Vegas could be well positioned to add McCarthy or another QB outside the top options on the board. With Jimmy Garoppolo‘s Raiders tenure widely expected to come to an end shortly, the team will have a need for at least a depth addition under center this offseason regardless of who is installed as head coach.
11:33am: Recent reports have suggested that the Raiders and Chargers are the likeliest landing spots for Jim Harbaugh should Harbaugh choose to leave the University of Michigan and return to the professional ranks. Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda.com adds some more fuel to that fire.
Per Pauline, Las Vegas and Los Angeles are “pressing hard” to hire Harbaugh, and there are rumors that both clubs have made initial proposals to Harbaugh’s camp. While Pauline is unable to substantiate those rumors, he does say that rumors suggesting Harbaugh’s decision to hire agent Don Yee gives the Raiders an upper hand in these sweepstakes are true (Yee was the longtime agent for Tom Brady, who is likely to soon become a minority owner of the Raiders and who is a trusted voice for majority owner Mark Davis).
We heard at the end of December that Las Vegas interim head coach Antonio Pierce may stand a good chance of having the interim label removed and becoming the club’s full-time head HC. Subsequent reports, however, suggested that Davis may decide to take another “big swing” as he did with his hires of Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels, and that Davis wants his Sin City outfit to be led by a high-profile coach.
Harbaugh certainly qualifies as a high-profile big swing, as does Bill Belichick, who has also been connected to the Raiders’ post. Harbaugh, whose Wolverines will appear in tomorrow’s CFP National Championship game, may yet elect to remain in Ann Arbor, and he reportedly has multiple extension offers on the table from Michigan (Yee’s hiring, aside from what it might mean for Harbaugh’s NFL hopes, obviously would also assist him in his negotiations with his alma mater). The looming presence of the Wolverines, along with Pauline’s report — which conflicts with earlier reports pegging the Chargers as the frontrunners for Harbaugh’s services — make this race a very difficult one to handicap.
Pauline muddies the waters even further by noting that the Bears and Commanders have also shown signficiant interest in Harbaugh. Just two days ago, Albert Breer of SI.com reported that Harbaugh is an unlikely candidate for Washington, though Pauline points to the team’s five top-100 picks in the 2024 draft and signifciant amount of cap space (roughly $80MM) as factors that sources close to Harbaugh say could draw the former 49ers HC to the nation’s capital. And while Chicago’s recent stretch of quality play has led to the belief that its current head coach, Matt Eberflus, has done enough to keep his job for at least one more season, Pauline says that could change if the Bears believe they have a chance to nab Harbaugh.
Should Harbaugh land an NFL gig in 2024, Pauline names Greg Roman and Willie Taggart as potential key coaching hires. Roman worked under Harbaugh’s brother, John Harbaugh, with the Ravens from 2017-22, including a four-year stretch as offensive coordinator from 2019-22. Taggart is currently on Baltimore’s staff as the team’s running backs coach and has a close relationship with both Harbaughs.
Of course, Roman also worked as Jim Harbaugh’s associate head coach at Stanford from 2009-10 and then as his OC with the Niners from 2011-14.
Davis could go for the big move and hire Harbaugh, but he might lose his locker room in the process. The teams lives Pierce and they should.
As they should…. If any of them shoot themselves accidentally he’ll hide the gun for them.
How is pierce different than Bisaccia? 2 yrs ago Davis couldve him but didn’t. Majority of the players were pissed he didn’t get the job. Point is, Davis passed over Bisaccia for the job then he’ll pass over pierce for the job. If he should somehow get the job it’s because of the color of his skin more than his coaching ability. Just my opinion
Chargers should go and get Jon Gruden
End of story
Tbe real thing is sadly, is that Rooney Rule…. I HATE IT, it sucks Apples
Forcing teams to interview someone because that Clown Show Dan Rooney thought it was a good idea
Even Dennis Green thought tbe Rooney Rule was turrible
Anyway, let the Raiders have Harbaugh
Quite frankly, I would give Antonio Pierce the job for another full year and if he does good, then he gets the job
Clown show seems a weird way to classify one of the most successful and well renowned owners in American sports history but to each their own.
They say you can’t take it with you when you go the Big Football in the sky
However when Dan passed on, he should have taken his rule with him
I’ll just take this as you being a Baltimore sports fan and hating the Steelers regardless of what the rule actually is instead of you being hating that teams have to interview a minority candidate.
As stated above – the ‘rule’ skews any reports as hypothetical at this date. Teams have been fined and/or lost draft choices by not complying with the policies of the league.
However, I’m not a fan of either Harbaugh or BB. Gruden might have problems if he was to return to the coaching at nfl level.
I don’t think Eberflus is the guy moving forward for the Bears, but I don’t see Poles putting up with Harbaugh’s drama either. I like Ben Johnson (Lion’s OC)
Raiders about to hand out another 10 year, $100 million coaching contract.
If they wanted to self destruct that badly they could just bring Hue Jackson back to the organization.
I get that Eberflus leaves a lot to be desired but he led the Bears to a top 10 defense. I think it’s more likely they’ll fire Getsy and give Flus another season.
Eberflus did an excellent job this year, with one of the worst starting qb’s in the league. Unless the Bears can hire Harbaugh, then Eberflus should be back.
Eberflus blew some 4Q leads. Two of his assistants were let go because of some unknown drama. The bad loss to GB today means he probably isn’t staying around.
Jesus Christ, they are reporting stories from that tony paulie. WTF is a sportskeeda? This guys sources are the cafeteria workers in the training complex