Harbaugh will chat first with Chargers
The Jim Harbaugh derby for NFL teams is about to heat up.
A week after leading the University of Michigan to a national title in the College Football Playoff, Harbaugh will meet with the Los Angeles Chargers about their head coach vacancy this week, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press.
Besides the Chargers, the Falcons, Panthers, Raiders, Seahawks, Titans, and Commanders have openings.
Harbaugh, who previously coached in the NFL, has a prior relationship with the Chargers franchise and the Spanos family that owns it. He played for the Bolts in 1999-2000 before retiring after the 2001 season.
The Chargers are looking for a coach and general manager after Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco were fired Dec. 15, a day after a 63-21 loss in Las Vegas.
While Harbaugh is exploring his NFL options, he also is considering staying at Michigan, a person familiar with his thinking told the AP. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
Harbaugh has spent the last week decompressing after the Wolverines beat Washington, 3413, last Monday. Michigan held a parade and ceremony to celebrate its national title Saturday.
Harbaugh, 60, has been at Michigan for nine seasons and has a 86-25 record. He was offered a 10-year, $125 million contract by Michigan that included a clause that he could not entertain NFL offers this offseason.
To prepare for a possible NFL return, Harbaugh recently hired Don Yee as his agent. Yee is known for his representation of another famous Michigan quarterback — seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady — but the Pasadena-based agent also represents Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton, who was the most soughtafter coaching free agent last year.
The Chargers have conducted six interviews about their vacancy. They interviewed interim coach Giff Smith and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore on Tuesday, Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham on Thursday, and Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken on Friday. On Saturday, they interviewed two defensive coordinators — San Francisco’s Steve Wilks and Baltimore’s Mike Macdonald.
Snow problem for Bills
Logan Eschrich came to Buffalo to witness the snowstorm, and he stayed for the shoveling Sunday.
Once the professional storm chaser saw the Buffalo Bills invite fans to help dig out a snow-filled Highmark Stadium for their delayed playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, while being compensated $20 an hour, Eschrich couldn’t resist.
He and the estimated 85-person shovel crew faced winds whipping at 30 miles per hour, and snow falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour at what was supposed to be the game’s 1 p.m. kickoff, which has been pushed back to 4:30 p.m. Monday.
“It would have been absolutely impossible [to play]. We could barely see the next row down from us,” Eschrich told the AP by phone in the midafternoon. “We made progress shoveling, but not much at all.”
The Buffalo region, which includes the Bills’ home in Orchard Park, was mostly at a standstill, with a travel ban in place due to a dangerous lake-effect storm that began Saturday and was expected to last through Sunday night.
The storm was projected to dump up between 1 and 3 feet of snow, with the heaviest accumulation around Orchard Park.
With the storm’s brunt expected to wane, the National Weather Service’s forecast for Monday called for a chance of snow showers in the morning and a high of 19 degrees, but with strong wind making it feel like minus-5.
On Sunday, Governor Kathy Hochul said she expected the game to kick off as scheduled. A day earlier, Hochul and the NFL cited public safety concerns as the reason to push the game back.
Bills players and staff spent Sunday at home. The Steelers arrived Sunday afternoon.
Falcons thinking ‘D’
The Falcons continued to focus on defense in their search for a coach to replace Arthur Smith, conducting virtual interviews with Anthony Weaver and Ejiro Evero. Weaver has spent three seasons on the Baltimore staff, including the past two as assistant head coach and defensive line coach. Evero is the Carolina defensive coordinator after leading Denver’s defense in 2022. The Falcons met virtually with Cincinnati offensive coordinator Brian Callahan and San Francisco defensive coordinator Wilks on Saturday. The Falcons also discussed the job with Baltimore defensive coordinator Macdonald . . . Saturday’s 26-7 Chiefs victory over the Dolphins in frigid temperatures averaged 23 million viewers on Peacock, NFL+, and on NBC affiliates in Kansas City and Miami — a record for the most-watched event on a streaming service.