Paraag Marathe Reportedly Reassigned as 49ers President: Details and Reaction

A disastrous season for the San Francisco 49ers took another turn Thursday when president Paraag Marathe was reportedly reassigned during his second season holding the position. 

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com reported Marathe was reassigned but will still be the “cap guy and lead contract negotiator.” Maiocco added Marathe “will continue to take a larger role in outside ventures for the York family, including Sacramento Republic soccer team.”

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News provided some context to the move and said the "deposing is indeed a firing, though the 49ers won't announce it that way.” Kawakami also noted a source told him the move was made because Marathe is “believed to be the source of many leaks.”

Cam Inman and Kawakami reported “Al Guido has taken on more responsibilities within the organization over the past year while Marathe’s duties have shifted. Guido assumed Marathe’s former role of chief operating officer in January 2014.” 

Maiocco provided a memo issued by 49ers CEO Jed York to the team's staff Friday explaining the move:

"

By now I am sure most of you have seen reports of some transition in our front office, and I apologize that we were unable to communicate with you directly prior to certain information reaching the media. Our original intent was to formalize the transition following the Super Bowl.

As many of you may have seen in recent months, Paraag and Al’s roles within the organization have been evolving.

In addition to his longstanding responsibilities in football operations as the team’s chief contract negotiator and head of our analytics department, Paraag has chosen to take a leadership role in the organization’s new ventures efforts. As you know, Paraag has been the lead in our partnership with the Sacramento Republic FC soccer team and was instrumental in developing and launching VenueNext. We anticipate great things to come from our new ventures wing as it continues to grow.

With Paraag focusing so much time and energy on new business opportunities, Al has taken the lead on the day-to-day business operations of the team and Levi’s® Stadium.

Despite how some have chosen to portray this transition in the media, I want you to know that Paraag has been and will continue to be an instrumental member of this organization. Without his contributions over the last 15 years, the successes achieved by this organization would not have been possible.

"

Kawakami offered an opinion on the situation:

Inman and Kawakami also detailed Marathe’s rise in the organization and said the reassigned president became the chief contract negotiator in 2004 but reportedly developed “contentious and distrustful relationships with some players and agents.”

Despite those relationships, Marathe was always one to turn to statistical analytics and also supervised things such as business operations and marketing before he became the president. The team’s official website credited Marathe for playing an “integral role” in negotiating contracts with players such as Colin Kaepernick, NaVorro Bowman and Vernon Davis.

Davis is now a Denver Bronco after San Francisco traded him, and Kaepernick was benched for Blaine Gabbert and is now on injured reserve.

The 49ers are a dismal 3-8 on the season and sit in last place in the NFC West. This will be their second consecutive non-winning campaign, although it seemed like a lost cause before the team even took the field for the season opener.

Former coach Jim Harbaugh took the Michigan job, and a number of integral players either retired or went to different teams during the offseason, including Patrick Willis, Mike Iupati, Michael Crabtree, Justin Smith, Frank Gore and Chris Borland.

The roster San Francisco started the 2015 campaign with didn’t nearly resemble the team that reached the Super Bowl during the 2012 season or even the one that lost in the conference title game the next year.

The losing surely contributed to the decision to reassign Marathe Thursday.