SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jim Harbaugh bluntly disputed a report from NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders claiming players have turned against the 49ers coach.
“Personally I think that’s a bunch of crap,” Harbaugh said Monday.
Following the 49ers’ 26-21 win Sunday over the Eagles, Sanders stated that players are fed up with the fourth-year coach.
“They want him out. They’re not on the same page,” Sanders, a Hall of Fame cornerback, said Sunday on NFL GameDay Final.
ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer chimed in Monday morning with a similar alarm bell, telling ESPN Radio: “I do think it’s become almost toxic.”
Harbaugh panned both Sanders’ and Dilfer’s analysis, taking umbrage with how neither named any sources for their information.
“I haven’t seen Trent or Deion around here much,” Harbaugh quipped.
Both Sanders and Dilfer had brief stints with the 49ers during their playing careers — Sanders in 1994, Dilfer 2006-07 — and they do have ties with current players and front-office personnel.
Sanders, in a follow-up tweet on Monday, announced his information isn’t coming from his longtime friend Michael Crabtree, and that rather his sources wear “uniforms, suits and ties.”
Outside skepticism on Harbaugh’s status within the locker room is nothing new this season. A NFL Network report claimed he was “losing the locker room” hours before they won their season opener at Dallas.
Harbaugh is in the fourth year of a five-year, $25 million contract he signed in 2011 upon leaving Stanford. CEO Jed York said before training camp that he and Harbaugh mutually agreed to wait until after this season to resume talks on extending a contract.
Harbaugh on Monday described his relationship with York and general manager Trent Baalke as: “Very good. Everybody is on the same page. Everybody is focused on this season, making it the best it can possibly be, working well together.”
Harbaugh said neither Baalke nor York have quizzed him recently about the state of the locker room, which he says he gauges by meeting with veterans.
After the win over Dallas, Harbaugh stated that he has an open-door policy for players to express concerns or offer suggestions. No such concerns have been raised to him, he said.
“Nothing specifically, no. But there are conversations,” Harbaugh said. “Players have good ideas. Coaches have good ideas. Equipment managers, trainers, strength coaches have good ideas. We welcome that. If we’re not doing something right or there’s a better way to do it, let’s get it out in the open and talk about it.
“We’re willing to do or fix anything to make it better. That’s the kind of relationship that we have, and I include all those coaches, staff and players in that.”
Sanders, 20 years removed from winning a Super Bowl with the 49ers, said players’ contempt for Harbaugh is causing problems.
“I really want to know if they’re really playing for the head coach,” Sanders said. “I got a question with that. Are you really down with your head coach, San Francisco 49ers? Because the way it looks and what I’m hearing, you’re really not down for your head coach. And that’s a problem.
“They really got some problems that we hear rumblings. We all know people inside locker rooms.”
A similar report surfaced from the league-owned NFL Network before the 49ers’ season-opening win at Dallas, stating that Harbaugh was “losing” the locker room. Harbaugh disputed the report after that game. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport followed up with another report Sunday morning, stating that veterans feel Harbaugh “treats them like children” and has banned playing music or cards on team flights.
Of course, with no new extension for Harbaugh, there will be constant speculation about his future, whether it’s with the 49ers or anywhere else, as was the case in February when the Cleveland Browns inquired about trading for him.
Dilfer, in a radio interview on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” blasted what he saw in the 49ers’ 26-21 win over the Eagles.
“Offensively,” Dilfer said, “it’s frenetic, it’s spitball, it’s ugly, it’s horrible clock management. I mean inexcusable clock management. Lack of energy by offensive players. Series ended and there was no communication, guys slouching their shoulders, just bad body language.”
Dilfer then couched his “almost toxic” comment by stating: “Now winning fixes all that, so please everybody before you start flipping out, if they win a couple more, it’s all good. That’s just the way the NFL is.”
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