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The stars could finally be aligning for Jim Harbaugh to return to the NFL following Michigan’s National Championship victory over Washington. The NFL world was likely keeping close eyes on the game, including the Las Vegas Raiders.
According to Mike Sando of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Chargers and Raiders are two of the teams expected to pursue Harbaugh. However, one coach detailed a way Las Vegas could keep him away from Los Angeles.
“[The Chargers] want Harbaugh, and he wants them,” a veteran coach told Sando in a January 8 column, “so I would think they would get that done. The Raiders want Harbaugh, too, so the Raiders could outbid them, but I don’t think that will happen.”
While the Chargers could be considered the betting landing spot due to the fact that they already have a star quarterback in Justin Herbert, going to the Raiders would allow Harbaugh to reunite with the quarterback he’s been coaching for the past three years.
“An exec who thought the Raiders made more sense said he could envision Harbaugh using the team’s first-round pick, No. 13 in the order, for Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy,” Sando wrote.
McCarthy can return to school for another and wait to enter a draft class that is less loaded at quarterback but reuniting with Harbaugh at the NFL level could be appealing to him.
Las Vegas Raiders Provide ‘Less Interference’
A big reason why Jim Harbaugh didn’t last long in the NFL during his stint with the San Francisco 49ers was due to having issues with the front office. One executive believes that the Raiders provide more freedom for Harbaugh to work than the Chargers do.
“With the Raiders, he is going to have less interference,” the executive told Mike Sando. “If he goes to the Chargers, the (owner Dean Spanos’) son (John Spanos) is involved, family members are involved, all those things. But you get a better quarterback right away in (Justin) Herbert.”
Raiders owner Mark Davis has shown that he’s willing to give a coach full control when he hired Jon Gruden in 2018. That said, giving a coach control of every aspect of a football team hasn’t always been a recipe for success. Gruden went 22-31 with the Raiders while having full personnel control. Harbaugh has never had personnel control at the NFL level so it’s fair to question if it’s the right move to let him have it.
Las Vegas Raiders Named Best Fit for J.J. McCarthy
The Raiders do need to find a young quarterback to build around but the team is going to draft at No. 13 in the first-round, per Tankathon. That likely puts them out of the range to get one of the top quarterbacks.
J.J. McCarthy is likely to be available later in the first round and ESPN’s Matt Miller believes the Raiders are the best fit for him if they decide to hire Jim Harbaugh.
“Well, the Las Vegas Raiders could very well hire his college coach, Jim Harbaugh (who recently said McCarthy is the greatest quarterback in Michigan football history),” Miller wrote in a January 6 column. “Vegas has a big hole at quarterback, and with a pick projected to be in the middle of Round 1, McCarthy could be the answer.”
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