Multiple reports have popped up suggesting the 49ers will attempt to trade head coach Jim Harbaugh this offseason, but Greg Gabriel of the National Football Post is skeptical of such sumors. In Gabriel’s view, there’d be little incentive for a team to give up a draft pick of any value for a head coach with one year left on his contract who may not even want to come to the team in question. While I’m not as entirely dismissive of the idea as Gabriel is, I think a trade could only happen if Harbaugh was allowed to negotiate with his suitor before the deal was consummated, perhaps working out an extension as part of the deal.
Here’s more from around the NFC:
- It’s nearly impossible to find someone in the Giants organization who hopes that the Tom Coughlin era is over, writes Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. However, as Vacchiano concedes in the next breath, with the team sitting at 3-9 and coming off an embarrassing loss against the lowly Jaguars, co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch may have no choice but to part ways with the longtime head coach.
- Who could coach the Giants next, if this is Coughlin’s last season? Gary Myers of the New York Daily News examines some possible candidates.
- Lions general manager Martin Mayhew has received his share of criticism over the years in Detroit, but Kyle Meinke of MLive.com believes the GM deserves praise for putting together a roster that has Detroit in the thick of the playoff race this season, pointing to the Lions’ 2013 draft class as a feather in Mayhew’s cap.
- The new contract extension Patrick Peterson signed this summer has the Cardinals cornerback under increased scrutiny this season, and too often he’s not playing up to that deal, says Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap. Fitzgerald also identifies Washington wideout Pierre Garcon as a player whose performance as of late has been hurting his value.