Carolina Panthers: A Look Back at the Marty Hurney Era

The Carolina Panthers officially parted ways with general manager Marty Hurney after a third consecutive losing season.

Hurney was the GM from 2002-2012 until he was replaced by David Gettleman. Gettleman was let go in 2018 and the Panthers re-hired Hurney to take over the front office duties. Hurney has certainly had his ups and downs but the fact is that he never was able to form a playoff team under the new regime. Panthers' owner David Tepper has proved that his patience has worn thin. When he first bought the team he did not clean house right away. He kept Hurney and head coach Ron Rivera until late last year when he let go of Rivera. This time around it was Hurney's turn. Let's take a look back at the GM's hits and misses over the past three years.

The Good

Hurney's first draft back in action started off with a bang by securing WR DJ Moore and CB Donte Jackson in the first two rounds of the 2018 NFL Draft. Both have been starters for the Panthers ever since. Moore just surpassed 1,000 yards receiving for the second year in a row and Jackson seems to be a key piece to the defense moving forward. In 2019, he stole DE Brian Burns with the No. 16 overall draft pick. Burns looks to be on his way to an elite pass-rusher in the league for years to come. This last year's draft he was able to hit on DT Derrick Brown in the first round and S Jeremy Chinn in the second. Both players are already starters in the league and seem to have promising careers ahead of them.

You can start to see a pattern here that Hurney knows how to evaluate first-round talent. He even occasionally hits on his second-round picks. It has always been that way dating back to his first stint as GM for Carolina. In 2011 he drafted former MVP quarterback Cam Newton with the No. 1 overall pick but couldn't fill any of the roster's holes besides that. In 2012, he picked up All-Pro linebacker Luke Kuechly in the first round but missed on every other pick besides maybe fifth-rounder Josh Norman. The problems start to mount as the rounds go on.

The Bad

Teams usually only get one first-round draft pick a year so they have to be able to build their roster around more than just the first picks' talents alone. Hurney has simply been unable to do this. From 2018-2020 the Panthers have no consistent players that were drafted in round three or later that start for the team. The draft is not the only place to improve the roster either.

Hurney was never able to attract or sign any big-name free agents. Carolina does not have the allure of New York or Los Angeles but it is still a great place to live and play football. The fact that Hurney wasn't able to sign any free agents to join forces with Cam Newton speaks volumes about his lack of recruiting power. WR Robby Anderson is perhaps the best free agent that the Panthers have signed over the last few years and he was influenced by head coach Matt Rhule, not Hurney.

The Ugly

In his combined 15 seasons in the Panthers' front office, Hurney has a 106-132 record. Carolina was only able to make the playoffs in three of those seasons with Hurney in charge. That is exactly the type of mediocrity that Mr. Tepper is trying to change in the Carolinas.

Tepper comes from a Pittsburgh Steelers organization that is always in the playoff mix. Not to mention they are tied with the Patriots for most Super Bowl wins in NFL history with a total of six championships. One would think that Tepper is desperately trying to bring this culture to the Panthers who do not have Super Bowl victory in the franchise's young history. Hurney was simply not the man in charge to get the job done.

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