Mike Pettine is the man most directly affected by reports concerning the Cleveland Browns' interest in Jim Harbaugh. After all, Pettine is the team's coach.
Where there is fire to go with the smoke fogging the question, the topic continues to draw attention. Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Pettine got his say in the situation.
In a word: Whatever.
Pettine called rumor "noise," preferring to focus on a job that was his, not one for which he was possibly a second choice … or worse.
Harbaugh, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, remains in his job. His teams appeared in the past three NFC title games, winning once. That victory produced a Super Bowl loss.
It's a solid resume, one that raised questions about why the Niners would want to dispose of Harbaugh.
According to the report on ProFootballTalk.com, the Browns had a deal in place to acquire Harbaugh. It died when Harbaugh said no. That's when the Browns hired Pettine.
While the Harbaugh question would answer the matter of what took the Browns so long to hire a coach, 49ers CEO Jed York denied the coach swap notion. Harbaugh also dissed the report.
Pettine said Saturday the issue "has no bearing" on his job. The Browns didn't deny their attempt to acquire Harbaugh, but Pettine said that didn't bother him, either. He said he thought that shows the organization's commitment to turning around the struggling franchise.
Pettine is the seventh head coach of the Browns since 1999.
Harbaugh also dismissed the report Saturday in text messages to media members, including Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group and CSN Bay Area's Dave Feldman, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
"I echo Jed York's comment — isn't true," Harbaugh wrote. "I know nothing about a trade with the Cleveland Browns and us, involving me."
Here's addition food for thought from Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami, showing that there might be at least smoke to the Harbaugh trade conjecture.
Harbaugh, Kawakami writes, "is a great coach who has never been known as a soothing, pleasant personality, and he has never claimed to be." He adds:
"He wins, and he also wears on people. Three years of winning with the 49ers, three years of wearing people down. Just ask the people at Stanford how they felt about him after four years there."
Contributing: Associated Press