Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The 49ers have a winning head coach, but are they pushing Jim Harbaugh out the door? He’s feisty, opinionated, and on a sick hot streak. What’s next, trading the General Manager? Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate this and more in part two of this week’s TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate the NFL and sports.
TODD:
The consensus opinion around the league seems to be that San Francisco management and Jim Harbaugh do not see eye to eye. They are perhaps tired of the headstrong charade that you pointed out. Whatever the case may be, they have declined to give an extension to such a successful coach for some reason. And that makes outside observers think they either do not want him back or he does not wish to continue coaching in San Francisco after his current contract is up.
Even if neither of those things are true, that is the impression given off. So it makes sense for the Cleveland Browns to swoop in and attempt to capitalize on such a circumstance.
Also, a testy relationship seems like the only logical reason that the San Francisco 49ers would listen to a trade offer for their head man anyway. Because if a trade FOR Harbaugh is great for Cleveland no matter the draft-pick haul they are forced to part with, then trading Harbaugh away has to be detrimental to the other side. There is no way San Fran is a better football team in 2014 with a couple first-round picks and no head coach.
The reason this situation is so fascinating is two-fold. One, that the trade attempt came out at all. Who did that help? Was it Harbaugh searching for an early extension or making it known that he wants out? It doesn’t make much sense for either team involved to leak this. Cleveland announcing that they failed in another attempt to secure the head coach they wanted doesn’t make them seem any better. And San Francisco gets no benefit whether they are growing weary of Harbaugh or not, especially when you consider the report that they had agreed, in principle, to go through with a deal.
The second fascinating subplot is the idea of trading for a coach at all. If a head man who brings teams to multiple conference championships is worth a few firsts and a few mid-rounders, then what if a team wanted to trade for a head trainer? Or a really good strength and conditioning coach? What are those guys worth? They must be more valuable than a single player if they are helping everyone on the roster improve.
DAN:
Wow, you just blew this thing wide open for me. Thank you. Let me first say that Harbaugh’s agent is the only logical culprit for the story leak. Either it forces the 49ers’ hand to give him the extension he deserves, or it lets the league know that this man is and will be available. Jerry Jones must be salivating at the mouth. All he has to do is endure one more season with his mediocre head coach and swoop in to steal Jim Harbaugh away for his Dallas Cowboys. It’s almost too perfect. Which is why this is all baloney.
I don’t believe for a second that the 49ers have reached such a breaking point that they’re willing to push Harbaugh out the door. He is too damn good. Too well-respected and on some kind of unheard of hot streak as a coach. Now Jim may want out, but show me a better football team in the NFL with an open coaching vacancy. Where is it? It doesn’t exist. Sure, the New York Giants job COULD be available, but all reports say otherwise. Same goes for the Cowboys’ job and the Steelers’ job. None are open, but they could be. Harbaugh doesn’t exactly win by leaving. This whole thing stinks of Jim’s agent, with the Brown’s once again getting the short end of a very short stick.
I love the possibilities this allows for, however. With a dominant head coach worth several first round picks, a mid round pick, and cash, then I would say the trainer is definitely worth two second round picks and maybe even a third. He is the shaman, the magic worker who heals everyone up. Peyton Manning’s trainer with the Denver Broncos is the perfect example of someone whom a team like the Patriots could steal away. Tom Brady is aging, so why not take the trainer from his biggest rival? I want to see this happen! Has it ever happened?
I think you’ve swayed me on the whole coaching trade, mainly because its hilarious and stinks of bad blood. For me, trading away your head coach is demeaning, an injustice that always comes back to get you. And the team that steals him, enjoy that first year or two because karma never forgets. Players are the pawns in the game, but the coaches are the principles, the superintendents, the people in charge. They make the trades… generally speaking. So as the General Manager, by dealing your head coach you’re telling the next guy “watch out.”
I love this mess for anyone but my own team. It goes against the un-written rules of sports. And it’s certainly amusing to imagine other personnel getting swapped, but before long you have the owner trading the general manager for a quarterback and nothing makes sense ever again.