How Paraag Marathe Hurts the 49ers Chances of Winning a Championship Every Year
Every year, the 49ers deliberately choose to remain among the NFL's worst at intercepting passes.
And by 49ers, I really mean Paraag Marathe, the EVP of Football Operations, who has been with the team since 2001.
Marathe's goal is to create bang for the 49ers' buck and to save the Yorks as much money as possible, and he achieves this goal in the secondary in particular by valuing cheap, easy-to-find traits such as tackling and wing span over expensive, difficult-to-find traits such as ball skills and recovery speed. And this is a big reason why the 49ers defense ranked 26th in interceptions last season and tied for last in interceptions since 2017.
Turnovers win games. Turnover differential is the biggest predictor of winning and losing. The 49ers should want to acquire players who intercept passes. But Marathe doesn't invest in those players.
Which means Marathe's moneyball approach in the secondary is in direct opposition to the 49ers' team goal of winning the Super Bowl. He's not getting the players the team needs to win their sixth Lombardi Trophy. As a result, defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans has to call extremely conservative coverages with his cornerbacks aligned eight to nine yards off the line of scrimmage, and simply asks them not to give up long touchdowns.
It's time for the team's goal to take center stage.
Stop letting the bean counter run the roster.
Change the secondary from a cap management tool to a weapon, and the chances of the 49ers winning their first championship since 1995 will go up significantly.
