Now here is where things get interesting because that was the job supposedly manned by Stat Head Paraag Marathe. You know, the guy who was supposed to turn the Niners into the NFL's version of the Moneyball A's. Where this leaves Marathe is kind of hazy as his square in the Niners organizational flow chart is somewhere not anywhere near anyone else.
Most of the criticism directed at Marathe was because he wasn't a "football guy." Heneghan, however, with his impeccable resume is most defiantly a football guy (although not the proverbial Wise Man Ira Miller called for). Score one for Seam Heads. But this is the kind of thing that drives Stat Head types crazy because while Heneghan may be a "football guy", his record as a football guy is not that good. The Browns team he worked for, well, pretty much sucked. And they were not known for their cap management or financial savvy.
Still, the hiring drew much happiness from the Niners fans and Heneghan gets rave reviews from Sports Illustrated's Mr. Football, Peter King (King is the proto-typical "football guy" as ever there was as his well known Man Crush on Brett Favre could attest to. He is also well known for making laughably bad predictions). And it's said that Heneghan's departure from the Browns was because of too many conflicts with other Browns' officials and clashing with incompetent people could be a sign of competence. Or of being even more incompetent.
Either way, somebody in the Niners is doing something right because they just swung a deal with the Broncos for a first round draft pick, giving them two this year. Nice little move, there.