Washington, Ron Rivera expected to hire former Panthers general manager Marty Hurney
Marty Hurney and Ron Rivera are reuniting.
Hurney is expected to become the new general manager of the Washington Football Team, per multiple reports. He was fired from the same position with the Carolina Panthers on Dec. 21.
The move has been a natural fit since Hurney’s time in Carolina ended. He first served as the Panthers’ general manager from 2002-2012 after originally being hired in Carolina in 1998 as director of football administration and then director of football operations (1999-2001) prior to his first term as GM.
Hurney, 65, was fired during the 2012 season and replaced by David Gettleman before being re-hired for the position in 2017, initially on an interim basis and then extended to full-time. He helped hire Rivera in 2011 and then worked with him until the head coach’s dismissal by team owner David Tepper in Dec. 2019.
“As far as Marty Hurney is concerned, I really appreciated working with him,” Rivera said last month. “He’s a very hard worker and a very bright man. He knows the game. If you look at what he helped us build in Carolina when he helped us build our run, it’s pretty impressive. He pretty much put a lot of pieces into place.”
Part of the group that hired current head coach Matt Rhule, Hurney assisted in Rhule’s transition during his first year as an NFL head coach with the team going 5-11. In his two tenures as GM combined, the Panthers went 107-121 (46.9%).
The Panthers hired Scott Fitterer as the team’s new general manager on Jan. 14.
The addition in Washington is a reunion of sorts in another way. Hurney is from the area, attending high school in Maryland and playing football at Catholic University in D.C. He spent time covering Washington for media outlets such as the Washington Times and was later hired as part of the team’s public relations department. He transferred to the front office with the Chargers in 1990 when Bobby Beathard was hired as the team’s general manager.
Rivera operated without a general manager for his first season in Washington that ended with an NFC East division win despite a 7-9 record. Washington Football Team lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team had been without a general manager, at least in name, for almost four years.
During his tenure as general manager, Hurney has drafted some of the most prominent names in Panthers history, including quarterback Cam Newton, linebacker Luke Kuechly and defensive end Julius Peppers.
While many recent draft picks by Hurney have been a success, including 2020 second-round pick Jeremy Chinn, there have been question marks surrounding several notable selections, including 2019 second-round left tackle Greg Little and third-round quarterback Will Grier, both of whom were bypassed this year for opportunities by other backups. His success in later rounds of the draft has been critiqued.
Carolina is without a franchise quarterback after releasing Cam Newton last offseason and signing Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year, $63 million deal.
Other members of the Panthers front office and almost the entire coaching staff left to join Rivera in Washington last offseason, including Rob Rogers, the team’s former executive director of player finance and football research who was in charge of managing the team’s salary cap situation.
