The rumors making the rounds on Monday reportedly were true.
Jordan Schultz reports that the contract between the Giants and incoming coach John Harbaugh is expected to be worth five years, at $20 million per year. That’s $100 million over five years.
If that’s what happens, times have changed in the NFL. Eight years ago, the 10-year, $100 million contract between the Raiders and Jon Gruden raised eyebrows.
It’s overdue. For a good coach, $20 million per year is a bargain. (The Jets paid that to quarterback Justin Fields, on a two-year contract.) And, frankly, it’s possible that Harbaugh will get more than $20 million per year; teams sometimes use related companies to funnel extra cash to a head coach. Because there’s no salary cap, there’s no prohibition against off-the-books payments to coaches.
And because there’s no transparency in coaching contracts, it’s impossible to know exactly what any of them make.
Some believe that certain owners want to keep coaching costs down. It seems, without having full access to all current or historical contracts, that coaching salary hasn’t grown at the same rate as player pay and the salary cap.
Regardless of any temptation to collude, Harbaugh had the leverage to get even more than $20 million, if that’s what he ends up getting. He didn’t seem to be interested, however, in playing one team against another in order to get the best possible deal. He seemed to want to find the right place to thrive.
Of the various openings in the current cycle, he may have done it.
