NFC GM Reveals Major Jim Harbaugh ‘Regret’

Every NFL offseason, teams across the league fire their head coaches and hire new ones. During the 2024 offseason, eight teams hired new leaders and the Los Angeles Chargers got perhaps the best in Jim Harbaugh, whose team is currently in the playoffs at 7-3 and playing the best football of the Justin Herbert era. At least one NFL general manager believes several of the teams that didn’t hire Harbaugh are blaming themselves right now.

“Text from an NFC general manager,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz shared with Bleacher Report on Monday following the Chargers’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals. “The regret that some teams feel for not hiring Jim Harbaugh when they had the chance… It’s very real.”

So what teams could this general manager be talking about?

The other seven NFL head coaches hired in this latest cycle are Antonio Pierce (Las Vegas Raiders), Dave Canales (Carolina Panthers), Mike Macdonald (Seattle Seahawks), Brian Callahan (Tennessee Titans), Raheem Morris (Atlanta Falcons), Jared Mayo. (New England Patriots) and Dan Quinn (Washington Commanders).

Of those teams, the Commanders and perhaps the Seahawks are the two franchises that could be fully happy with their hire and probably don’t look at Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers with jealousy. Other than that, the Falcons are underperforming as always, and the Panthers, Titans, and Patriots are just bad to varying degrees.

While Harbaugh certainly wouldn’t have considered many of these jobs, places like the Falcons with a lot of pieces in place or the Raiders — who he would have talked to — surely had a chance and would likely be in a much better position with the former man from Michigan in this position.

Who is the Jim Harbaugh of 2025?

As usual, there will be several new NFL head coaches in 2025. We know the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets certainly will. There’s also a good chance that the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and maybe even the Raiders will do so as well.

So who will be the coach who addresses one team and leaves others kicking themselves?

Names like Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Joe Brady and Kliff Kingsbury will appear in the 2025 coaching carousel, and several will likely get jobs. However, the coach who could quickly turn around a team and who will enrage other franchises for not taking a risk with him is none other than Bill Belichick.

Most organizations don’t want to hand over the reins entirely to a 73-year-old player, but if a coach can turn around a team in its first season, he’s the GOAT.