18 years of loyalty and general consistency are typically more than enough to take you wherever you may want to go in your professional life. But unfortunately for John Harbaugh, the NFL has always been a ‘What have you done for me lately?’ type of business.
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Even though the 63-year-old head coach was able to produce three consecutive 10+ win seasons from 2022 to 2024, he was never able to reach the AFC Championship with whom many believe to be the most talented quarterback in the league, Lamar Jackson.
Once those postseason failures were met with a frustrating 8-9 finish in 2025, one that saw the Baltimore Ravens miss out on the playoffs altogether despite being listed as the preseason Super Bowl favorites, the franchise thought it best to finally move on from their head coach of nearly 20 years. Many have suggested that the equally frustrated Jackson had a say in the matter, but according to Harbaugh himself, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“We’ve texted a number of times,” Harbaugh suggested in a recent interview with Fox Sports’ Dan Patrick. “Great love for Lamar. We’ve texted. He is a great QB. There are no issues between us.”
While it was readily apparent that the veteran play caller didn’t have much interest in sifting through old news, so too was the smile that broke across his face the second that his new team, the New York Giants, was mentioned. Although he did feel the need to clarify that there were plenty of other teams that were worth his consideration throughout his brief period as a free agent.
“I talked to everybody… It was really incredible to talk to the people at every organization. The owners, the GMs, team presidents, all that, there are so many great people in this league… You realize we’re all fighting the same things. We’re all fighting the same battles, we all,” he added.
At the end of the day, however, that ultimately seems to suggest that Harbaugh was most excited by the opportunity to work with one of the youngest rosters in the NFL and to potentially develop the next big thing in Jaxson Dart. Given the dual threat capabilities of the Ole Miss product, there’s likely a bit of familiarity there for Harbaugh as well.
“You build a team around the quarterback. Jaxson was the guy who really excited me when I saw him. Now more so, as being in here. He was here last night, hanging out. He’s working out. I think he worked out at 9 PM. I saw him around the building and talked about the ball with him. It was great,” he added on the Dan Patrick Show.
Nevertheless, only time will tell as to whether or not he’ll be able to right the sinking ship that is the Giants franchise. While Harbaugh was busy racking up those aforementioned 10+ win seasons and vying for playoff seeds, New York was busy collecting just 13 wins throughout the past three years.
Simply put, this will not be an easy feat for him by any means, but then again, if there’s anyone capable of guiding the Giants back to the playoffs, perhaps it’s the same head coach who’s managed to reach the postseason in six of the last eight years.
