John Harbaugh Finally Agrees To A Deal With The New York Giants—And He’ll Make About $20 Million Per Year

The Baltimore Ravens fired their former coach John Harbaugh on January 6. At the time, the team was willing to pay $34 million to part ways with Harbaugh. Baltimore likely won’t owe nearly that much money, however, because just 11 days later, Harbaugh has found another job with the New York Giants. Seven teams were reportedly interested in Harbaugh’s services—that’s about a quarter of the league—and the Giants wound up on top.

The two sides first agreed to a deal on Wednesday, January 14. However, amidst somewhat tense contract negotiations, the deal didn’t get signed until January 17. But it turns out the contract negotiations were never about money, even though Harbaugh will receive a nine-figure amount from the Giants.

Multiple sources have said the Giants offered a five-year deal worth $100 million. At $20 million per year, Harbaugh would tie Andy Reid for the highest-paid NFL coach. This year, Reid’s Chiefs missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season, and they’ve won three Super Bowls over that span.

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Harbaugh’s lone Super Bowl victory came in the 2012 season, during the infamous “blackout” Super Bowl that featured a power outage (and a clever impromptu Oreo ad). The Ravens haven’t returned to the Super Bowl since then, though Baltimore has still been there more recently since the Giants, which won the year before.

In fact, since the 2011 season, the Giants have gone through six coaches, won one playoff game, and have zero NFC East titles. They’re hoping to reverse all those trends with Harbaugh on the sidelines.

The delay in the contract was largely around finalizing language of who Harbaugh would report to. Over his 18 seasons in Baltimore, the coach reported to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. Harbaugh was looking for a similar setup with the Giants.

Traditionally, the Giants’ chain of command goes from coach to general manager to owner. But the team was willing to acquiesce to Harbaugh’s demands, and he’ll report directly to co-owner John Mara.

Now, Harbaugh is tasked with building out his staff and helping the Giants get back to glory. The team finished 4-13 and has the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft. Over the past decade and a half, it’s been a lot of pain and long seasons. Giants fans are jubilant now, and they hope they’ll be watching some meaningful games come next January.