Hurney disappointments

[Kevin Greene]

With the glaring issues we've faced recently and again today I have a few Marty Hurney decisions I think haven't fared well for the Panthers.

I'll just go back as far as 2006 to keep the discussion centered on recent draft picks and moves. 2006 saw us take a can't miss running back in Deangelo Williams who dominated in college 4 years. An excellnt pick who we could plug into the back field for an aging Deshaun Foster and not worry for years to come. We also wrapped up James Anderson, Richard Marshall and Jeff King, players who still contribute to the Panthers. We all know how Williams struggled to gain playing time for the next two years as for whatever reason Fox and Hurney felt Foster was the better option.

Enter the 2007 draft and you have a lights out 1st pick in Jon Beason, well done. Then you've got Dwayne Jarrett in the 2nd, a waste so far but did follow that up with Ryan Kalil, a starter. A few more players from those drafts still hold spots on the roster albeit minor roles.

Enter the 2008 draft and we hold the 13th pick due to a terrible 2007 campaign featuring Vinne Testaverde among others subbing for an aging Jake Delhomme down with Tommy John surgery. No one even knew how an NFL QB would recover from that assuming Jake is still your choice in 2008. At the 13 spot Joe Flacco is still on the board and the Panthers would

be able to draft a Franchise QB for the future. I felt drafting Johnathon Stewart was an admission that Deangelo Williams was a mistake with the #1 in 2006. Two #1 picks on running backs in 3 years stunk of the Lions drafting wide receivers year after year. We then traded our 2009 #1 plus our 2008 2nd and a 4th round draft picks for Philly's #19 pick. Jeff Otah is a stud but the price paid was harsh indeed as we entered 2009 with no 1st round pick. We also saw how D Will's talents had not been used to full advantage for the previous 2 years as he broke out for 1500 yards when finally given the starting nod.

The 2008 offseason saw us face the Julius Peppers debacle. Almost any scenario would be preferable to the situation we faced as we had no cap room, could not make any moves in free agency and indeed long past the 2009 draft still did not know how the Peppers debacle would resolve itself. In fact we entered the 2009 draft not knowing if we would have a star pass rushing defensive end on the roster. This again led us to trade another future #1 draft pick to another team so we could use their 2nd round pick to protect ourselves selecting Everett Brown. Had the Peppers situation been handled more aggresively along the lines of the Patriots and Richard Seymour I don't think we'd ever have made that trade to acquire Brown and would still hold our #1 pick in the 2010 draft. It's far too early to judge the rest of the 2009 draft but time will tell.

Drafting Williams, then Stewart, passing on Flacco, reaching for Otah at such a high price then Everett Brown to protect a botched Peppers 18 million dollar contract battle have crippled the Panthers ability to better shape the Panthers roster for the future as well as today. The future would be bright indeed if Flacco was our QB, Peppers had been better handled and we still held next years number 1 pick. Even if that meant J Stew and E Brown weren't on the current roster.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

Hurney is far from perfect but we've drafted really well the last few years, probably better than 90% of teams in the league. It's easy to look back and said we should have got this guy or that guy. Everything is easier in hindsight.

I'm sure there are plenty of teams wishing they drafted Tom Brady when he fell to the 6th round. To me the biggest thing is that the guys you do bring in end up working out for you, and for the most part that's been the case.

Also, from everything I've seen this team is terrible at developing QB talent. Ever QB we've had makes little to no progress or gets worse. I don't really think it matters who you draft until you get that fixed.

[Delhommey]

I'm still not crazy about the Stewart pick, but you could play "what if" in the draft with any NFL team and make them world beaters.

We've drafted pretty well and I can't complain about that really.

[Kevin Greene]

I'm still not crazy about the Stewart pick, but you could play "what if" in the draft with any NFL team and make them world beaters.

We've drafted pretty well and I can't complain about that really.

Yeah I know, I'm just hung over and pissed off. :incazzato:

[tjmurray]

I haven't posted here in awhile. For those of you that don't know I live in Memphis and I follow the team because of DeAngelo Williams. I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I always felt that the reason Hurney was so aggressive in trading away the number one pick was because he planned on using DeAngelo to get it back in a trade this offseason. That was the reason for drafting Goodson. He will be the number two and Jonathan will eventually take over for DeAngelo. I can't believe nobody has picked up on this. I honestly believe this is DeAngelo's last year in Carolina. DeAngelo says all the right things like he did when he was here in college, but I promise you he wants to be out there more than he is. Stewart missed the entire training camp but he still split carries with DeAngelo yesterday. I know that eats away at him inside. He rotted 2 years on the bench and waited his turn to be the guy, but in reality they are grooming Stewart to eventually take over. He is younger, stronger and Fox's protoypical type of back. So Carolina will have a number one pick this upcoming year and they will use DeAngelo to get it in a trade this offseason. Either a number one pick or a quarterback in return...

[mountainpantherfan]

I haven't posted here in awhile. For those of you that don't know I live in Memphis and I follow the team because of DeAngelo Williams. I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I always felt that the reason Hurney was so aggressive in trading away the number one pick was because he planned on using DeAngelo to get it back in a trade this offseason. That was the reason for drafting Goodson. He will be the number two and Jonathan will eventually take over for DeAngelo. I can't believe nobody has picked up on this. I honestly believe this is DeAngelo's last year in Carolina. DeAngelo says all the right things like he did when he was here in college, but I promise you he wants to be out there more than he is. Stewart missed the entire training camp but he still split carries with DeAngelo yesterday. I know that eats away at him inside. He rotted 2 years on the bench and waited his turn to be the guy, but in reality they are grooming Stewart to eventually take over. He is younger, stronger and Fox's protoypical type of back. So Carolina will have a number one pick this upcoming year and they will use DeAngelo to get it in a trade this offseason. Either a number one pick or a quarterback in return...

That actually would be a brillent move on the Panthers part. Williams is, what?, about 26 years old. He would be 27 going into next season and into his final year of his contract. With Stewart behind him trading Williams before having to sign him to a contract that would be for more than three years, past the 30 year old mark for RBs, would probably be the best move.

Now, would Hurney actually go through with that? Not sure.

[Delhommey]

That's all well and good if Hurney's even here next season.

And I'd need more than a first for Williams. A lot more.

[Skew]

Anyone can do well in the first couple of rounds, which Hurnery has done well. But he's sucked a$$ in rounds 3-7. Give me someone who can actually make a great talent pick in those rounds.

Might as well throw those picks away, which is what Hurnery has done.

[zoom]

Every team can do a draft do-over and feel sorry for themselves...

[Nu Guns]

We need to focus on being more well rounded.

[Urrymonster]

Anyone can do well in the first couple of rounds, which Hurnery has done well. But he's sucked a$$ in rounds 3-7. Give me someone who can actually make a great talent pick in those rounds.

Might as well throw those picks away, which is what Hurnery has done.

Are you serious? How many 'talents' do you see on other rosters from those rounds? You will get two or three tops and most are in the unglamorous positions which have one specific role, or they are players with personality problems which caused them to drop.

From 2004 Wharton, Hangartner, King, Johnson, Rosario, Godfrey, Connor, Barnidge look to have genuine talent with players such as Wilson Goodson, Fiammata and Robinson witht he potential to develop into great players. Didn't someone pull an article showing we are one of the top teams in fielding drafted players? You simply can't fill a team with just first and second rounders. In addition almost all evaluators will tell you that you can get a known commidity in the first two rounds, but after that it genuinely is a crap-shoot.

Let's be honest the closer you get to round seven, you are simply going for depth or projects that you hope play out, you are not trying to draft starters at that point.

[Kevin Greene]

Every team can do a draft do-over and feel sorry for themselves...

True, but at some point it's fair to scrutinize past decisions and judgement.

[Newtcase]

Anyone can do well in the first couple of rounds, which Hurnery has done well. But he's sucked a$$ in rounds 3-7. Give me someone who can actually make a great talent pick in those rounds.

Might as well throw those picks away, which is what Hurnery has done.

Without going back and digging up years past, just looking at 2009 draft.

4th Round - Mike Goodson

7th Round - Captain Munnerlyn

Both of these players made the team and show a lot of promise.

[pantherclaw]

You do know drafting is a 3 prong decision on this team, right?

Head of scouting, coaches, and Mr Hurney.

That being said, our drafts have been pretty good. Of course you don't agree with certain picks. Heck, I know I rarely agree with them. That being said, our drafts haven't been bad by any means.