San Jose Mercury News 1

Are the 49ers about to lose Harbaugh to Miami, and $7-8M a year?

They met for 6.5 hours today, and there seemed to be a deal in place for Jim Harbaugh to sign on as the 49ers’ next head coach.
All Harbaugh had to do was sign the paper. But he told 49ers owner Jed York and GM Trent Baalke that he had to at least listen to what Miami owner Steve Ross had to offer.
And that’s about as close to Harbaugh as the 49ers might ever get.
There are multiple reports that the Dolphins are set to offer Harbaugh a mind-bogglingly massive deal averaging $7M to $8M a year, which would possibly top Bill Belichick as the No. 1 deal among all NFL coaches.
Ross, who flew out from Florida, is due to meet with Harbaugh tomorrow morning.
The 49ers, according to an NFL source, are prepared to offer Harbaugh about $5M per over five years.
And if Harbaugh gets that mega-offer from Miami, the source said, the 49ers are unlikely to go dollar-for-dollar and would be prepared to move on from Harbaugh.
This should come to a head around noon tomorrow.
To that end, an NFL source indicated that York and Baalke already have had initial discussions with fired Denver coach Josh McDaniels. They’ve already interviewed Raiders OC and presumed future HC Hue Jackson.

Other possible interviews: Rams OC Pat Shurmur, NY Jets OC Brian Schottenheimer and former Ravens coach Brian Billick.
None of those names will do much to placate most 49ers fans, who were eagerly anticipating the addition Harbaugh, the hottest coaching commodity to hit the market in years.
York, after all, was the one who said money would be no object in hiring a coach to replace Mike Singletary and a new GM. He promoted Baalke from within, and hoped that would set the stage for a Harbaugh hiring.
If it’s Baalke and not Harbaugh… there will be reason for discontent, and one question should be asked: Shouldn’t York have known from the outset that Harbaugh could get north of $6M per?
Pete Carroll, Harbaugh’s great rival, got more than $6M last year with Seattle and many presumed that Harbaugh would inevitably get a deal greater than that.
According to a source, everything went smoothly during the face-to-face discussions between Harbaugh and the 49ers today. He and Baalke meshed well and the money terms were being negotiated with agent David Dunn.
Then Harbaugh said he would talk to Ross, and the 49ers heard that the Dolphin offer could blow theirs away.
As always, there will be repercussions.