2014 NFL off-season thread

He's had too much success to be unhireable at this point.

This is what I think will happen... He will not sign an extension before the season starts. The Niners will have a disappointing season (8-8 or 9-7) and miss the playoffs. He'll resign at the end of the season. He will then either sit out what would have been the final year of his contract, or he'll be hired by the Dolphins or someone else and they'll have to throw a pick to the Niners as compensation.

 

Right out of The Parcells playbook.

 

Harbaugh has done an amazing job, but usually the runaway ego doesn't come before the ring. It's equally stupid for the Niners to be hesitant to give Harbaugh a raise just because he hasn't won a ring. Then again, he might be asking for crazy money. I could totally see Harbaugh wanting to be paid more than his brother.

Parcells forced his way out of New England without winning a title there. But at least he had won two before that.

I'm trying to think of an instance where a coach quit at this point. I'm sure it's happened, but I can't think of it.

 

Jimmy Johnson left not long before the draft. I think the huge flareup happened at the owners' meetings in early March.

 

While the Pats demanded and got draft picks as compensation for Parcells, which they then squandered, Bob Kraft was not heartsick to lose him. Having such a high-maintenance employee who was also real valuable to the organization was very stressful for the then-inexperienced owner.

 

That's right... I remember the issue with Gruden and McKay in Tampa came to ahead at the owner's meetings as well. He lasted the season, I think, before going to Atlanta.

 

I wonder if the NFL should change its calendar (I know this will never happen) to mandate a one-month closure of every franchise's football offices the day after its final game of a season. The timing of these blowups cannot be coincidental, and maybe giving all concerned some needed time off from each other right after the amazing stresses of a season would prevent some costly and damaging organizational conflicts.

 

I bet one of flash points was Brandon Jacobs signing who obviously Harbaugh
did not want.

Maybe they wanted him to dump Greg Roman as OC. Two years in a row, bad play
calling at end of game cost them big time.

 

Bad play calling or a stupid throw by Kaepernick?

 

Coaching searches are the biggest reason why this won't happen. There's usually one coaching search that lasts longer than the others and goes a week or two beyond the Super Bowl. I still think if Lombardi doesn't get fired in Cleveland then maybe the Harbaugh story never leaks out. This was something that was in the works and didn't leak out until a few weeks later.

 

You could say bad play-calling in the Super Bowl -- Kaepernick is not a good thrower of the fade and it isn't Crabtree's strength catching it either.

This year it was all on Kaepernick -- took a needless gamble into double coverage with plenty of time left. He even said afterward that was the only place he was looking.

 

My opinion... Last year was on Roman. This year was on Kaepernick.