Amid multiple reports that there is a significant rift between San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh and his players, newly re-signed wide receiver Anquan Boldin insisted that there are no problems between the San Francisco players and the head coach.
Harbaugh has led the 49ers to two straight NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl loss in 2013, but reports have indicated that the coach has had a strained relationship with his players and the 49ers front office. There were also reports that the franchise shot down a trade offer that would have sent Harbaugh to the Cleveland Browns.
Boldin said he had just found out about the reports of a rift and denied them strongly.
"Honestly, I just heard about it yesterday," Boldin said via ESPN of the rumored ripple between the players and their head coach during a teleconference to discuss his new two-year deal with San Francisco. "I really don't watch [ESPN's] SportsCenter. I don't read sports news. At this time of the year, people grab at whatever. The football season is not here so they'll take whatever they can and run with it. A lot of it is farfetched."
Boldin, who had 85 receptions for 1,179 yards with seven touchdowns in 16 games for the 49ers last season, said he couldn't take the reports seriously.
"When I did hear about it, I kind of laughed," Boldin said per ESPN. "I don't think anybody in our locker room has an issue with Coach Harbaugh. The way our locker room is built, we have an open door policy. If anybody has any concerns or wants to voice their opinions, they're more than welcome to. There have been times when we've voiced our concerns as players and Coach Harbaugh has listened to us and taken into consideration how we felt as players. I don't think there's any rift between players and coaches, particularly Coach Harbaugh."
Boldin signed a two-year $12 million contract with $9 million guaranteed with the 49ers on Monday, and he said his belief in his coach was one of the factors that weighed into him re-upping with the team.
"He's a guy that I had a real good relationship with. Me and him was able to talk about anything," Boldin told ESPN. "And I just like his demeanor, the way he approaches the game. He's a guy that wants to win. I'm the exact same way. So I think we mesh pretty good. Like I said, he was just good to me the entire year."
With the reports of controversy came some speculation that Harbaugh might bolt the team in 2015 in order to become the highest paid coach in another market, but Harbaugh denied those rumors in an interview with Sports Illustrated.
"I see all these reports about how I want to be the highest-paid coach in football," Harbaugh told the publication. "They presume I covet some kind of extension. I have never said to anybody that I want to be the highest-paid coach in football. I have never said that to anybody -- my wife, my brother, my dad. I make plenty of money."
Harbaugh also addressed his rumored rocky relationship with 49ers general manager Trent Baalke.
"We're both demanding and we want to be accountable for ourselves, for each other," Harbaugh told Sports Illustrated of his relationship with Baalke. "If you haven't had a brother, you probably don't understand the relationship between the GM and the head coach. We're partners on the same team. I have great respect for him. He works extremely hard at it and is very good at it. We are all part of a team. I believe in the structure we have. I don't want to change anything that we do in that regard."
Harbaugh said there was "zero chance" he had any plans of leaving, and while reports continue to circulate that his relationship with the team is rocky, the coach will put that to the side and try to bring the 49ers back to the Super Bowl in the 2014-15 season.
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