The San Francisco 49ers have been in the NFC Championship game the past three seasons and despite that, there has been talk of Jim Harbaugh and his act "wearing thin" on players and his issues with GM Trent Baalke and that has sparked some to speculate that Jon Gruden could replace him if Harbaugh ever leaves or is fired from the Niners.
Harbaugh has been successful wherever he has been, including at Stanford in college and after turning around the Niners, he reportedly wants to be the highest paid coach in the league, but the team is weary to do that until he wins a Super Bowl. According to Pro Football Talk, the team and Harbaugh have been at odds over various issues and there has been a bit of a split between him and the front office over players and final decisions on personnel. While Harbaugh isn't going anywhere, many have pointed to the fact that he can be hard nosed and that he left Stanford after a short period and that has added pressure on the team to win this season.
As all this goes on, Pro Football Talk is also reporting that the Niners and Kaepernick are starting to talk about a contract extension with the QB looking for $18 million. Harbaugh wants his salary to go up from $5 million to $6.5 million in 2014 and Kaepernick is looking to move up from the $973,000 on his rookie deal and now he is hoping to get locked up long term and paid about as much as Matthew Stafford and Tony Romo. Harbaugh and Kaepernick have been tied to each other and the head coach was the main reason the team went after him and now the two could end up in another championship game this season.
Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle reported the news on Harbaugh and while he likely will not be going anywhere, it's interesting to see the dynamic for the Niners play out after the news came up about the Browns interest in trading for him. ESPN.com reported that the deal never got to a realistic point, but there was talk that Cleveland wanted to deal draft picks for the head coach.
