Jim Harbaugh: Undervalued asset

On Friday, Grantland's Bill Barnwell put together an interesting post discussing how Jim Harbaugh might be the most valuable person in the NFL. The debate for MVP and other awards is getting into full swing, and it is time for the out of the box thinking that sometimes comes along with these debates.

In assessing Harbaugh's value, Barnwell pointed to what he's done with a lot of the same parts (with some obvious additions, of course), and at a relatively bargain price given what NFL stars are paid. Jim Harbaugh is paid $5 million per year, while random 4-3 defensive end Charles Johnson had a base salary of $4.75 million this year, and is scheduled to earn $6.75 million next year.

It's generally not a simple task assigning value to a coach because of how much is happening on the field. Of course, given what we saw Mike Singletary do with a lot of similar parts, I think we can see the value of a coaching staff. The 49ers did make several changes between 2010 and 2011, but there is no doubting that Jim Harbaugh showed how much a coach can bring to the table. It is hard to assess what specifically that is, but there's something to it.

Barnwell made a good point about some coach's being vastly underpaid. Do you agree that at some point an owner will go completely over the top and make an insane offer to Harbaugh or Belichick, or any other successful coach along the way? Will these potentially undervalued assets see their value increase as generally happens at some point with most undervalued assets?