While the Giants were celebrating a midweek verbal commitment from John Harbaugh, his agent was scheming contingency plans.
The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor reported that Harbaugh’s agent, Bryan Harlan, was still communicating with the Tennessee Titans as recently as Saturday in case the Giants’ negotiations went sour.
“If things fell apart at 1 p.m., I would not have been surprised,” O’Connor wrote, citing a league source.
With Harbaugh’s agent keeping the Titans warm in the bullpen, the Giants continued to put on a happy face while contract talks behind the scenes shifted from smooth to potentially a sour curdle in the 72 hours after Giants fans celebrated a deal with Harbaugh.
The Post’s Paul Schwartz first reported Harbaugh’s intention to be the next Giants coach as recently as Wednesday night.
Harbaugh canceled his Thursday meeting with the Titans as a result of his commitment to the Giants, but no deal was officially announced until the wee hours of Saturday.
Teams around the league wondered whether there were problems brewing for the Giants and Harbaugh as they circled a potential last-minute swoop for the 2012 Super Bowl-winning coach.
Harbaugh was eventually announced as the Giants’ coach on a five-year, $100 million contract late in the day on Saturday, three days after reports trickled out that Harbaugh had committed to Big Blue.
The holdup in negotiations, according to Schwartz, was over who Harbaugh would report to and who had control over personnel.
General Manager Joe Schoen recused himself from those talks, as owners John Mara (and his brother Chris Mara) and Steve Tisch backed up the truck to get the deal done.
As negotiations continued, Harbaugh met with Chris Mara in secret at an undisclosed location between New York and Baltimore on Friday in an attempt to make further progress on a contract.
Had the Giants blown their chance at hiring Harbaugh, Big Blue would have also been out of the race for Kevin Stefanski on the verge of being named coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Giants finally got their guy, with Harbaugh already talking playoffs in a winnable NFC East.
