NFL insider Ian Rapoport may be baffled by the difference in the national and local opinion regarding Paraag Marathe, but Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee clearly is not. Barrows joined "Murph & Mac" on KNBR 680 this morning to touched on the topic of Marathe and the frustrations surrounding the 49ers executive.
Barrows was asked what he thinks of Rapoport saying that Marathe is highly respected around the NFL. "With what Paraag does, the contract, you know, he's their top contract negotiator and he's their salary cap guru," Barrows said. "In those realms, he's great. I don't think there's any complaint about that. Remember, the 49ers of yesteryear, when you covered them Murph, had all sorts of salary cap issues and they were bumping against the cap and they had to cut guys left and right. That was that year when they had to get rid of [Terrell Owens] and Jeff Garcia and Garrison Hearst and Derrick Deese all in one fell swoop. Once Paraag took over, those issues went away.
"The issue with Paraag among coaches and GMs is when he starts to sit in on the football meetings and they are like, 'Why is the non-football guy part of this meeting?' And apparently, that was an issue for Chip Kelly this year as well if you read that really good Yahoo! Sports report that came out yesterday.
"If Paraag is sticking to the things that he's good at, I don't think there's any issue with him. The issues have come up in the past when he's dabbling with football-related matters."
You can listen to the entire interview on KNBR 680.
It would seem that Marathe will be "dabbling with the football-related matters" when it comes to finding both a new head coach and general manager. "Paraag will be with me in the interviews," 49ers CEO Jed York said on Monday. "We've certainly done research together and will be moving forward."
The final decision will be York's – whether or not the team CEO is qualified enough to make such a decision. "Ultimately, the decision will rest with me," a confident York said.
Charles Robinson's Yahoo! Sports article on Tuesday explained the obstacles that ex-49ers head coach Chip Kelly had to endure while trying to jump start the franchise. "It meant working for an impetuous and involved owner in York; sitting in football meetings with head of football operations Paraag Marathe, a numbers guy whose influence over ownership was unparalleled; and navigating his way alongside Baalke, who – fairly or not – had been tagged by some in the personnel community as untrustworthy," wrote Robinson.