Since 2007, the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference has featured an array of industry heavyweights talking analytics on multiple levels. Earlier this year, the football analytics panel featured 49ers COO Paraag Marathe, Rams VP of Football Operations and COO Kevin Demoff, former Chiefs GM Scott Pioli and Football Outsiders Editor-in-Chief Aaron Schatz.
We had some discussion about the conference back in early March, and I have since come across video of the panel. You can view the video above. It is an hour long, so you are probably best to watch it in chunks. Our friends at Arrowhead Pride came across the video, courtesy of 42Analytics on YouTube.
The panel got into a variety of interesting topics. Marathe likely wasn't looking to give anything away, but we did get a better sense of strategy in his discussion of retail vs. wholesale between free agency and the draft. He also got into some discussion about the strategy considerations of signing NaVorro Bowman to a contract extension. There have been questions about putting so much money into the two inside linebackers. However, with the ability to play in both the 3-4 and 4-3, the 49ers were able to justify it to themselves.
If you want to get a little more insight into the mindset of the 49ers front office, give the video a watch.