San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York indicated on Yahoo! Sports Talk Live on Thursday evening that the team and head coach Jim Harbaugh have agreed to table extension negotiations until after the season.
Citing the need to focus on what’s happening on the field, York said that it made more sense to wait until after the season ends before resuming extension talks.
We actually just had this conversation yesterday…Lots of people were talking to him about it. We just said, ‘You know what, let’s not do anything during the season. Let’s sit down a week or so after the season is over and let everybody know we’re not focused on anything that’s off the field right now.
Harbaugh is signed through the 2015 season and there appeared to be somewhat of a rift between him an the organization earlier this offseason. That rift seems to have cooled a bit in recent months, which is why both sides felt pushing back extension talks until a week after the season could work out.
York continued…
Well, Jim’s here for the next two years under contract,” York said. “And like I’ve said publicly and very loudly in the past, I hope he has the utmost leverage when we sit down and talk about his contract at the end of the season.
That leverage York is talked about is a Super Bowl title.
San Francisco is considered one of the top teams in the NFL heading into the 2014 campaign and has come close in each of the last three seasons to earning that elusive sixth Lombardi Trophy. The previous rift between these two sides was based on Harbaugh’s view that he should be paid like a Super Bowl-winning head coach and the 49ers’ brass believing he should actually win a Super Bowl before being paid at that level.
For his part, Harbaugh had this to say about his current contract situation with San Francisco.
I signed my 10th contract in the National Football League in 2011, so I understand contracts,” said Harbaugh, who signed a five-year, $25 million deal in 2011. “I understand how contracts work, and what they are there for.
It’s not that Harbaugh is putting all of his eggs into one basket this season. But you have to believe a Super Bowl championship would go a long way in helping him become the highest-paid head coach in the NFL. Even without it, he’s considered one of the top head men in the league.
Photo: ESPN.com