Cowboys Ready to Lose Coach Kellen Moore to Dolphins as Jim Harbaugh Out?

A 50/50 shot that Dallas has to replace Moore? The Cowboys seem prepared.

FRISCO - There are those who know Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh who swear that he is as sincere as he is quirky, and that a potential return to the NFL via the Minnesota Vikings was about “unfinished business” and about his relationship with new Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, with whom he worked back in his 49ers heyday.

There are others who - meaning no ill will toward Harbaugh - swear this is a money ploy, a way for the Wolverines brass to pay up.

Those "others'' included me.

And now Harbaugh has spurned the Vikings, as they search for a replacement for the fired Mike Zimmer, we’re about to find out. Which means he's also out of the Miami Dolphins race that he never really entered.

“I guarantee you,” one NFL source told me, “he wants Michigan to pay up after what they did in 2020.”

“What they did” was dock Harbaugh’s Wolverines salary by half, down to $4 million.

Maybe that gets fixed now ... and maybe the Dolphins are locked in on their two finalists, Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and highly thought-of San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.

A 50/50 shot that Dallas has to replace Moore? The Cowboys seem prepared.

"Not that Kellen’s not a huge, integral part of this, and we certainly want to keep him," Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said at the Senior Bowl this week. "But the great news is that (head coach) Mike (McCarthy) is an offensive football coach and called plays for Super Bowl teams and championship teams. So it gives you a little more safety net, if you will, versus where we were on the defensive side of the ball.

"Certainly, it’s great to have Mike and what he’s all about in place. (It’s) not that I’m not rooting for Kellen. I think the world of Kellen and that’s why we want him back. At the same time, not rooting against him to further his career."

I've talked about Dallas staffer Doug Nussmeier moving up if Kellen leaves. I've also said directly to McCarthy that maybe - "an offensive coach of championship teams'' - should be the play-caller.

Meanwhile ...

Harbaugh’s first “revenge”? A huge 2021 in which he pushed Michigan to the top of the Big Ten while beating hated rival Ohio State, all culminating in a College Football Playoff berth.

Combine that with his stellar record in present Super Bowl contender San Francisco (44-19-1, with three playoff seasons in four years), and it’s time for a second “revenge.”

Success gets a person paid. What’s the going rate in the “amateur ranks”? Well, Kelly will receive a 10-year, $95 million contract plus incentives at LSU.

 Harbaugh is aware.

Somebody - Minnesota or Michigan - will shortly make this very much about money.

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