Report: NFL teams not concerned by Jim Harbaugh drama
As the NFL coaching market begins to open -- the Raiders job is already open, and there's speculation Washington could fire Ron Rivera if they lose in Dallas today -- Jay Glazer of Fox reported Thursday that the ongoing drama in Ann Arbor will not hamper Jim Harbaugh's NFL prospects, should he choose to move on after this season.
"All the teams I've talked to say regardless of what we hear in that investigation, that's not going to affect the way we look at Jim Harbaugh if he wants to come back and coach in the NFL," Glazer said.
Harbaugh faces two concurrent NCAA investigations, resulting in two separate suspensions that have or will force him off the sidelines for half of Michigan's regular season. However, both investigations -- one for allegedly meeting with recruits during the COVID shutdown, the other for Michigan's off-campus scouting operation -- would be non-issues at the NFL level.
Fox's report Thursday runs counter to a report from NFL Network last month that said the NFL could collectively pass on Harbaugh, citing precedent where the NFL honored an NCAA suspension of Jim Tressel following the Tattoogate scandal of 2011.
Glazer's report indicated that NFL teams were indeed wary of Harbaugh when the Michigan scandal first broke, but have either since decided that it's not that big a deal, or the NFL has signaled it wouldn't suspend Harbaugh if the NCAA does, or some combination therein.
Either way, reports such as these are always curious. NFL teams are not a monolith; they do not get together to unanimously agree on how to approach Harbaugh's potential return to the NFL. Whether they collectively view the ongoing investigations as A Big Deal or Not A Big Deal, all it takes is one owner to bring Harbaugh back to the league.
In the here-and-now, Harbaugh is in the final hours of preparation for the biggest Michigan-Ohio State game in a generation, if not longer -- a game he'll watch on television with the rest of us. Michigan was said to be moving forward with a contract extension for Harbaugh that, three weeks later, is still unsigned.
And if Glazer's report proves correct, it's possible Harbaugh has already coached his last Ohio State game.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
