Chris Mortensen tweeted earlier that Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross was flying to the West Coast to talk to Stanford Cardinal head coach Jim Harbaugh and provide his counter-offer to the San Francisco 49ers. According to Matt Maiocco (CSN 49ers insider), the talks will be underway on Wednesday; Harbaugh met with the Yorks for over five hours on Tuesday.
And with the amount Harbaugh is being offered by Miami, he sure better be interested. Ross is reportedly offering SEVEN TO EIGHT milllion dollars a year according to Mortensen, which would make him the highest paid coach in the NFL, over proven winners like Bill Belichick and Andy Reid. Guess NFL owners still are ready to open out their checkbooks, huh?
Should 49ers fans despair? Well, former Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden was offered a similar amount by Ross, and he declined the job. But if Ross is willing to give Harbaugh that amount and he wants to make the professional leap, neither the Dolphins nor 49ers are that much different in terms of talent level. The Niners have supposedly offered them 4.5 million dollars, and Harbaugh wants six million. Any negotiator can tell you the Dolphins have the edge financially.
And it should be noted (again) that Tony Sparano is still Miami's head coach. The circus gets crazier in the Bay Area as South Beach enters the fray.
For more on the situation, check out Niners Nation (the 49ers SB Nation site) and The Phinsider (the Dolphins SB Nation site) for more information on this developing story.
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