NFL Rumors: San Francisco 49ers confirm Jim Harbaugh trade talks with Cleveland Browns

Jan 19, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh reacts during the first half of the 2013 NFC Championship football game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks defeated the 49ers 23-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 19, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh reacts during the first half of the 2013 NFC Championship football game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks defeated the 49ers 23-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 19, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh reacts during the first half of the 2013 NFC Championship football game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks defeated the 49ers 23-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 19, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh reacts during the first half of the 2013 NFC Championship football game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks defeated the 49ers 23-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

The San Francisco 49ers have become the subject of NFL tabloid fodder recently thanks tot he scandalous nature of their relationship with head coach Jim Harbaugh. Despite winning consistently, it’s becoming more and more clear to the viewing public that the Niners front office doesn’t like Harbaugh and he doesn’t like them.

Fans are trying to ignore the story, but Mike Florio kicked the door off the hinges last week with a report that the Niners had trade discussions with the Cleveland Browns about Jim Harbaugh. This was denied by other reporters and started a flame war that took away from the issue.

But now that everyone has put their pants back on, the issue of Harbaugh and the Niners remains, and San Francisco is softening their hard stance that nothing took place between themselves and the Browns.

Per Peter King’s MMQB:

"That was until Sunday night, when York told me he would not rehash the entire story but did say: “The Browns reached out to me, and we had no interest in pursuing it.”"

We’re all getting technical, but York and the Niners did take a pretty hard stance that nothing at all happened and zero conversations took place. That wasn’t so true, but the fact of the matter remains that just because the Niners weren’t willing to trade Harbaugh and banish him to Football Hell, doesn’t mean they love him like a cuddly teddy bear.