Jim Harbaugh will be connected with the Miami Dolphins this year

The Miami Dolphins are not in the market for a head coach but that does not mean the name Jim Harbaugh won’t be tied to the team this off-season.

As the Miami Dolphins wind down their season there will be speculation on who will be replaced on the coaching staff and which players will be released from their contracts. Jim Harbaugh will be a name that is linked to Miami.

Dolphins fans want to forget as I am sure the Dolphins want to forget the incident that occurred in 2010 when Stephen Ross and Jeff Ireland tried to get then Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh to Miami. It was a nightmare both internally and in the media. It appears that there is a potential for Harbaugh to once again surface in off-season talks.

Rob Guerrera who tweeted the above in response to a report given by Chris Carter on television to watch out for Jim Harbaugh as a candidate for the vacant job in Green Bay. Guerrera knows Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk well enough to know that Florio has some inside scoops. Guerrera serves as the Executive Producer of NBC Sports radio and NBCSNS’s Profootballtalk Live with Mike Florio.

The question is whether or not Adam Gase is on the hotseat and the answer is no. Not right now. Harbaugh came close to taking the Michigan Wolverines to the NCAA playoffs this year before being blown out by the Ohio State Buckeyes so the question is whether he is ready to come back to the NFL this year, does he want to come back, or does he want one more year at Michigan?

All of those questions are in need of answering but the connection between Ross and Michigan and Harbaugh is genuine and clear. What is more likely to happen is that Harbaugh remains at Michigan unless he covets the Green Bay job with an established future Hall of Fame quarterback in place. If that is the case this is his one shot to get that job.

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The more likely scenario that would bring Harbaugh to Miami would come following the 2019 season should the Dolphins under Adam Gase fail to meet the teams goals and expectations. That would also make the most sense. Harbaugh takes one more year to get the Wolverines to the playoffs and Adam Gase gets another year to take his team to the playoffs.

In this scenario the Dolphins should keep Ryan Tannehill for the 2019 season and if the team does not deliver then Harbaugh or another coach would come in and pick their own QB from the 2020 draft pool.

There is absolutely nothing that suggests Miami is interested in Harbaugh or that Harbaugh is interested in the Dolphins but the speculation is only going to grow until Miami or Harbaugh makes a decision on their futures. One thing is for certain and that is that if the Dolphins do not make the post-season and Harbaugh opts to leave Michigan there is going to be “speculation” about him coming to Miami.

One thing is 100% for certain though, if the Dolphins and Stephen Ross have interest in Harbaugh, then Gase will be fired before that pursuit. I don’t expect that happen however and I believe that Gase will remain as head coach through the 2019 season. Just get ready for the rumor mills to start swirling about it and realize that chances are there won’t be much to those rumors.