After the loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Jim Harbaugh hot seat has reached all time high temperatures in San Francisco with the assumption continuing that Harbaugh will likely be traded or let go come the end of the season should the 49ers not make it to the Super Bowl with expectations from team owner Jed York being set at getting over the hump at all costs. After appearing in a Super Bowl and the NFC Championship in back to back years, it appears that is unlikely with the loss to the Seahawks at home on Thanksgiving putting the Niners on the outside looking in heading into December.
On Sunday it was reported that the Niners may trade Harbaugh, making the Oakland Raiders likely candidates as the team is in need of a new head coach and would be very interested in trading for Harbaugh to keep him in the Bay Area where his family wants to stay which would help the team sign a new contract with the current Niners head coach upon a trade with San Francisco. Another non-trade route would be the Michigan Wolverines, who are likely to fire Brady Hoke after a 5-7 season and could make a bid to bring their former college quarterback to Ann Arbor.
Michigan alum and ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter doesn’t find that as a likely option, feeling that the Oakland Raiders are the obvious landing spot in the early chase for Harbaugh.
Nick Baumgardner of MLive.com provided a transcript from ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter discussing his thoughts on Harbaugh’s situation on ESPN’s Mike and Mike:
"I think he’s more interested in staying in the pros. Listen, as a guy who went to Michigan, I’ve had a lot of people ask me ‘could Jim Harbaugh wind up at Michigan?’ I’m not going to tell you he can’t, but based on everything I’ve been told and heard, I do not see that happening.(What’s) more likely (is), after the season’s over, they sit down and figure out how to move forward and I think the chance’s are Jim Harbaugh is not there. He’s got a year left on his contract, he can’t just up and leave (to another NFL team). The 49ers have his rights. He can’t just up and leave, I think the 49ers have his rights. So if they have his rights and everyone agrees there has to be a change, why not get something back in return.To me, the Oakland Raiders are the obvious landing spot. It would mean he could stay in the Bay Area, I’m sure he and his family are happy about that idea. … I do know the Jets are monitoring the situation, whatever that means, they’re paying close attention to it. … We’ll see."
There are a lot of variables to the Harbaugh Watch, but it is easy to say that the Raiders are in the pole position for now. They are in the Bay Area and owner Mark Davis will try his best to get him, exactly the type of head coach the team needs to turn around the fortunes of the franchise, the chase for Harbaugh is going to be one of the biggest storylines early in the Raiders 2015 offseason. Getting him is still not going to be easy, but fans can take some glimmer of hope into the fact that for the time being, the Raiders are looking like the lead candidates to add one of the best coaches in football.