Marty

Hurney

Hurney served as an advisor with the team in 2024 after being carried over from the Ron Rivera regime. Hurney, who turned 69 in December, was hired as the Commanders’ executive VP of football/player personnel in 2021 and relegated to his advisor role after the team went out and hired a new coach and general manager last offseason. With his contract now expired, Hurney is no longer with the Commanders and is free to sign with any team who may be interested in his services.

This was expected but we now know Hurney’s official title. Hurney joins GM Martin Mayhew in a revamped Washington front office. Both will report to Ron Rivera, who remains in control of football operations. Hurney has a long history of working with Rivera, who he overlapped with in Carolina. Washington will try to build off their 2020 success with their new power structure.

The Football Team was reportedly “close” to hiring twice-fired Panthers GM Marty Hurney as its new personnel boss, but it is ex-Lions GM Mayhew who is coming away with the top job. Hurney will still be joining the Football Team’s front office in some capacity. Mayhew is now over half a decade removed from leading a franchise, but he was far and away the best Lions general manager of the 21st century, building their only playoff cores following their 0-16 bottom out in 2008. He has also been a critical cog in the 49ers’ recent turnaround. If you are going to hop on the retread train, Mayhew is about as good of a “second chance” candidate as you are going to get. Stability never lasts for long in Washington’s Daniel Snyder-dominated front office, but Mayhew is the sort of hire Snyder has rarely made.

Per Rapoport, Hurney will “have a high-ranking role in the front office.” The top role is going to ex-Lions GM Martin Mayhew. That’s a lot of experience and brainpower in a front office that has been desperately low on both of late, though it could make for a confused command structure, something that has been staple under owner Daniel Snyder. Hurney and coach Ron Rivera’s long history together could create a temptation to work independently of Mayhew. Rivera has seemed to know what he’s doing as he’s seized the reins in Washington, but every best-laid plan under Snyder has eventually come to ruin.

Fired by the Panthers twice over the past eight years, Hurney is the frontrunner to land the Washington GM job and rejoin former Panthers head coach Ron Rivera. Hurney’s personal issues and questionable team building make him a curious hire for the Football Team, though he could fit well with the team’s dysfunctional and toxic culture. Hurney in 2018 was investigated by the NFL after claims of harassment by his ex-wife and eventually cleared of wrongdoing.

An average candidate that seems more like a give-up hire, Hurney has always been linked to Washington if only because coach Ron Rivera is calling the shots there. Hurney is thus the organization’s “top candidate” after serving as Carolina’s GM from 2002-2012 and (comically) again from February 2018-2020. The team is expected to make the hire official this week.

As are ex-Lions GM/current 49ers exec Martin Mayhew and Titans vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden. The Football Team operated without a general manager in 2020. As coach Ron Rivera continues to assert his power, it would make sense for him to reunite with his longtime ex-Panthers boss Hurney. Of course, just because it “makes sense” doesn’t mean it would be the best move. Hurney is an average, at best, general manager. The Football Team still seems miles away from a power structure that actually makes sense.

Hurney has now been canned by the Panthers twice. Hurney was the Panthers’ general manager from 2002-2012 before being fired. He was then rehired in February 2018, somehow surviving last year despite the team parting ways with former head coach Ron Rivera. Hurney was investigated by the NFL after claims of harassment by his ex-wife and eventually cleared of wrongdoing. Team owner David Tepper had apparently seen enough of Hurney’s questionable team building. Carolina is 9-21 since the start of the 2019 season.

“We are going to take a comprehensive and thorough review of our football operation to make sure we are structured for long-term sustained success,” owner David Tepper said in a statement. “Our vision is to find the right mix of old-school discipline and toughness with modern and innovative processes.” In the midst of one of the more surprising second acts in recent NFL history, Hurney is about as old school as it gets but has done a decent job in his second go-round as Panthers GM. Tepper has made it clear he will be heavily involved in the team’s coaching search and is seemingly likely to rely more on his own opinion than Hurney’s. It is still quite possible Hurney is sent packing at season’s end.

As expected. Hurney, who was the overseer of the Panthers from 2002-2012, ran the organization into the ground before being fired in 2012 and succeeded by Dave Gettleman. Now the reverse happens five years later, and Hurney will guide the team through the 2017 season before a permanent GM is hired next offseason. Veterans like Greg Olsen and Thomas Davis are licking their chops as they’re sure to get the extensions they’ve been seeking. Hurney made a habit of handing out bad contracts when he was last at the helm. Luckily for Carolina fans, Hurney isn’t expected to be the GM for next year’s draft.