Looking at all the rumblings about Jim Harbaugh and the Raiders

There are reports that Jim Harbaugh and the Raiders have mutual interest but others are disputing that. Here’s what to make of it all. 

Michigan football fans are still waiting to hear whether or not Jim Harbaugh will be back next season and beyond, but there was some new reporting on the subject Wednesday.

Pete Thamel who is the new college football insider for ESPN said this morning that there was “mutual interest” between Jim Harbaugh and the Raiders.

Reading between the lines, the report makes some sense. The Raiders have started the process of interviewing head coach candidates with Jerod Mayo of the Patriots getting an interview, as well as interim head coach Rich Bisaccia.

It could be viewed as a good thing that the Raiders are interviewing candidates but I wouldn’t make too much of it. Mayo would satisfy the Rooney Rule and while I don’t mean to discredit him at all as a candidate as he is likely to get hired somewhere, Las Vegas might not be it.

Bisaccia also has strong support from the players. Many said he was the right guy for the job even after the playoff loss to the Bengals, so that could be Mark Davis appeasing his players.

Bisaccia did a good job this season but if the Raiders are interested in Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, then that interview probably isn’t going to go anywhere.

We’ll see if there are any positive rumblings about either of those candidates but it feels like the Raiders could be gearing up for a run at Jim Harbaugh.

Yet, at least one member of the local media in Michigan is saying not to worry as Adam Ghabour retweeted the news about mutual interest by quote tweeting and saying “0 percent chance.”

Austin Meek and Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic also reported on the negotiations between Jim Harbaugh and Michigan and there’s a couple of takeaways.

One is that Michigan football is only offering, according to their reporting, Jim Harbaugh a yearly deal of $8 million a year IF he reaches incentives. The other is that some higher-ups at Michigan are wondering if Harbaugh wants to coach at Michigan or in the NFL.

At any rate, $8 million without incentives would be low for Harbaugh. Mel Tucker just signed a 10-year, $95 million deal and Harbaugh deserves that and more.

It should have been offered the day after he beat Ohio State. And now if the Raiders offer something crazy like $12 million a year, he might be more willing to listen.

The fact is, no one knows what Harbaugh is going to do. But if he wasn’t interested in the Raiders or the NFL, it would make zero sense that he hasn’t signed his new contract offer from Michigan.

So the interest is real on some level and the longer it goes, the more it feels like he will wind up in the National Football League and not with Michigan football.

We’ll see what happens. For now, it’s nothing but wait and see.