Colin Kaepernick was asked a simple question: What did he think of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh possibly returning to the NFL? His answer was to the point.
“Harbaugh is the one coach you call,” Kaepernick told USA TODAY Sports in a direct message on X, formerly Twitter, “when you want to compete for a championship. Period.”
Period.
That was it. Nice and short and sweet. But to Kaepernick, and anyone who remembers Harbaugh’s time in the NFL, you really do not need to say much more. Also, Kaepernick is right.
For people who don’t remember, in the 2012 season, Kaepernick and Harbaugh had one of the more magical runs in modern NFL playoff history. That season was also controversial because of how things with Kaepernick unfolded. Alex Smith, the 49ers’ highly popular starter, missed two games with a concussion, and Kaepernick filled in.
When Smith returned, Harbaugh decided to keep Kaepernick as the starter. This was a staggeringly bold move by Harbaugh at the time. Smith was one of the game’s most-accurate passers and was 19-5-1 as a starter under Harbaugh. By the time Smith returned, the 49ers were 8-2-1. It would have been easy for Harbaugh to simply re-insert Smith as the starter.
But Harbaugh saw something in Kaepernick that pushed him to make the switch. It was the fact that Kaepernick provided explosiveness to the offense that Smith couldn’t. The decision worked. The 49ers made it to Super Bowl XLVII, where they lost to Baltimore. Later, Smith was traded. The following season, as the starter from the beginning of the year, Kaepernick helped lead the team to the NFC title game.
In many ways, Kaepernick would become a bridge from quarterbacks like Mike Vick to the current generation, like Jalen Hurts. Kaepernick would elevate it and for a good two to three years was one of the most devastating weapons in the sport. Maybe in the history of the sport. None of that would have happened if Harbaugh hadn’t made the switch.
There were excellent running quarterbacks before him, and after him, but few had his combination of speed, power and smarts. Against the Green Bay Packers, in his first postseason start, he’d rush for 181 yards.
Could the 49ers have made the Super Bowl with Smith as the starter? Sure, it’s possible, but we’ll never know. What we do know is that Harbaugh re-engineered the offense to fit Kaepernick’s unique abilities. This sounds obvious but many coaches, because of their egos, or because of a lack of skill, often don’t do that.
Harbaugh allowed Kaepernick to be Kaepernick, and a locker room that could have potentially fractured was kept together by Harbaugh.
Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh has a title, seat at the ‘big person’s table.’ So is this goodbye?
That season, and for much of his NFL head-coaching tenure, Harbaugh was good with players, adaptive and smart. This is the Harbaugh the NFL remembers and why teams may want him back in the professional football fold.
Harbaugh and Kaepernick have remained close; Harbaugh named Kaepernick an honorary captain for the Michigan spring game this past season.
“Coach Harbaugh, he’s always been phenomenal for me,” Kaepernick said in an interview then. “From the time we met at the combine to my pro day to him drafting me and choosing to start me. From there, our relationship has continued to grow and develop. Phenomenal person. Phenomenal man. Lots of love for Coach Harbaugh.”
At halftime of that spring game, Harbaugh, knowing Kaepernick was still open to playing in the NFL again, had Kaepernick conduct a throwing session.
“It shows who Coach Harbaugh is,” Kaepernick said. “He does this for me. He’s someone that is gonna fight for you. His relationship with you goes beyond just football. He loves you as a person. My relationship I’ve maintained with him, his dad, Jack, and his family. It’s phenomenal to be able to reconnect in person after the pandemic and a few years apart.”
Harbaugh is gruff, and some of the things he did at Michigan were wrong, but no NFL team will care. They will look at his successful NFL tenure, and the fact he took the Wolverines to a title, and will jump up and down like a kid coming down the stairs on Christmas morning.
There’s long been this low-key chatter among some NFL coaches and front-office executives that the coaching job Harbaugh did in that 2012 season was one of the best of the past 20 years.
In the end, Harbaugh is that good, and winning a national title only enhances the lure for NFL franchises.
So, yes, Kaepernick is right. Period.
