Jim Harbaugh has been a name linked to the Raiders for decades, and for a variety of different reasons, he has never returned to the team since he left in 2004 to become head coach at the University of San Diego.
Harbaugh was never considered a serious option for the Raiders in last year’s hiring cycle, despite the fact that he was essentially forced out of the NCAA for a variety of violations.
The Chargers signed Harbaugh and haven’t looked back since. After an 8-4 start, the Chargers are 2.5 games ahead of the Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card standings and are a virtual lock to make the playoffs.
No one has detailed the reasons why the Raiders were never serious contenders for Harbaugh, but NFL analyst Michael Lombardi brought up the Raiders and Bears as two teams he believes Harbaugh would have been interested in coaching.
In his weekly segment on the Pat McAfee Show, Lombardi said Chicago passed on Harbaugh because of history between Harbaugh and Bears’ team president Kevin Warren.
As for the Raiders, Lombardi said he doesn’t know why they didn’t pursue Harbaugh.
“There were two teams that Harbaugh would have loved to work for, I’m sure, last year. The Bears, who he played for, was the no. 1 pick for, and then the Las Vegas Raiders, who he worked for in his first coaching job,” Lombardi said. “Neither team decided to go after him. Why? I don’t know.”
A couple things stand out from Lombardi’s comments, and it’s worth noting that Lombardi has long had a vendetta against the Raiders.
First, it was notable that Lombardi used the term “I’m sure” to describe Harbaugh’s interest in the Raiders. He wasn’t sharing a report. He was giving an opinion.
Considering what we know about Lombardi and his history with the organization, it’s hard to take any of his reports or opinions on the team as fact. He’s too biased against them to offer objective opinions.
Secondly, we don’t know why the Raiders didn’t decide to go after Harbaugh. What we do know is that Harbaugh has been enamored with Justin Herbert for a long time and the Raiders didn’t have a lot to offer at the quarterback position.
Harbaugh has a good relationship with Mark Davis and it’s hard to imagine they didn’t have conversations and come to an understanding that Harbaugh was going to have better opportunities elsewhere. Rather than waste time and go through the formalities of an interview process, maybe everyone involved understood the timing wasn’t right.
If Harbaugh really wanted to be the head coach in Las Vegas, it’s hard to imagine Davis wouldn’t have given him the opportunity to interview.
More than likely, Lombardi understands that, but he’s not one to miss an opportunity to make the Raiders look even worse than they already are.
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Simple. Davis wasn’t going to pay his asking price. He got fleeced from Gruden and didn’t want another financial anchor around his neck along with McDaniels.