Marty Hurney is a terrible GM

[Sam Mills Fan]

I was just reading Florio's piece on all of the power Gross has over the Panthers organization in the next couple of weeks and made me realize just how bad Hurney is.

How did he manage to let it get to the point where half of our Pro Bowlers are going to be UFAs in a few weeks if nothing is done? If he and the team knew that Peppers didn't want to play with us anymore at the start of the season when he turned down that massive contract offer, why not trade him before the trading deadline so Peppers' agent couldn't make a power play by going public with Peppers' intent not to play here next year? Also, since he knew Peppers was unlikely to be here next year, why didn't he make it a priority to get JG resigned during the season like he did with Gamble?

[wcd59]

because he sucks most of the time

[L.A. Fanatic]

lets see what happens before we say he sucks

this is a make or brake offseason for Marty

[Sam Mills Fan]

This is third straight offseason that people have said it's make or break for him and that sumnuvabitch is still here.

[Woodie]

I was just reading Florio's piece on all of the power Gross has over the Panthers organization in the next couple of weeks and made me realize just how bad Hurney is.

How did he manage to let it get to the point where half of our Pro Bowlers are going to be UFAs in a few weeks if nothing is done? If he and the team knew that Peppers didn't want to play with us anymore at the start of the season when he turned down that massive contract offer, why not trade him before the trading deadline so Peppers' agent couldn't make a power play by going public with Peppers' intent not to play here next year? Also, since he knew Peppers was unlikely to be here next year, why didn't he make it a priority to get JG resigned during the season like he did with Gamble?

First of all, Peppers didn't announce he didn't want to stay until after the season ended, and up until that point Hurney did everything in his power to get him to re-sign...including offering to make him the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. As for trading Peppers mid-season, there are a couple of problems with that scenerio. One, we didn't have anyone waiting in the wings ready to fill the void. As well as Johnson and Brayton played this year, they would have made a disasterous bookend starting DE lineup...especially with very little depth behind them. Also, we were in the middle of the playoff hunt, and you simply do not trade one of your top playmakers when you're a serious SB contender. Oh, by the way, Peppers never turned down the big offer, he just said he wanted to focus on the season and worry about the contract after the season.

As for why they didn't try to re-sign Gross during the season, well, league rules prohibit teams from negotiating with a franchised player until after the season. So basically, they weren't allowed to sign or talk contract with Gross during the season. And even Gross said they had basically agreed on the money but only needed to work out some of the language on the contract.

So while Hurney does have his faults as a GM, the reasons you gave are not among them. He, or more specifically Rob Rogers, has generally been very good about signing the guys they want.

[manwithcake]

Maybe you guys should put together a consortium and go after Matt Millen.

[Sam Mills Fan]

First of all, Peppers didn't announce he didn't want to stay until after the season ended, and up until that point Hurney did everything in his power to get him to re-sign...including offering to make him the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. As for trading Peppers mid-season, there are a couple of problems with that scenerio. One, we didn't have anyone waiting in the wings ready to fill the void. As well as Johnson and Brayton played this year, they would have made a disasterous bookend starting DE lineup...especially with very little depth behind them. Also, we were in the middle of the playoff hunt, and you simply do not trade one of your top playmakers when you're a serious SB contender. Oh, by the way, Peppers never turned down the big offer, he just said he wanted to focus on the season and worry about the contract after the season.

As for why they didn't try to re-sign Gross during the season, well, league rules prohibit teams from negotiating with a franchised player until after the season. So basically, they weren't allowed to sign or talk contract with Gross during the season. And even Gross said they had basically agreed on the money but only needed to work out some of the language on the contract.

So while Hurney does have his faults as a GM, the reasons you gave are not among them. He, or more specifically Rob Rogers, has generally been very good about signing the guys they want.

Yes, it's been reported that Peppers turned down an offer before the season even started that would have made him the highest paid defensive player in the history of the league.

You make a good point about not trading him mid-season.

And if that's true about them not being allowed to negotiate with Gross (which sounds ridiculous and I find it hard to believe) then you obviously have bested me there.

Still, my point is that it should have never come to this. You never see the great teams having their heads held over a barrel by their players like we're seeing with the Panthers this offseason. That's on Hurney. He should have just worked out the Gross deal last season.

[Baschski]

You're right. That Stewart/Otah move just sucked.

[L.A. Fanatic]

This is third straight offseason that people have said it's make or break for him and that sumnuvabitch is still here.

after this season he deserves to still be here

[Sam Mills Fan]

You're right. That Stewart/Otah move just sucked.

You get lucky sometimes. Even Matt Millen had his successes. Drafted MEGATRON for example.

[L.A. Fanatic]

You're right. That Stewart/Otah move just sucked.

he really blew it with that one

the Vincent signing was disastrous as well

come to think of it I can name a couple of nice moves on Martys part the past year or two

[Seamonk]

This is third straight offseason that people have said it's make or break for him and that sumnuvabitch is still here.

What I'm trying to figure out is how many straight offseasons you've lobbied to get someone fired because you can do the job better than them.

[mountainpantherfan]

Yes, it's been reported that Peppers turned down an offer before the season even started that would have made him the highest paid defensive player in the history of the league.

You make a good point about not trading him mid-season.

And if that's true about them not being allowed to negotiate with Gross (which sounds ridiculous and I find it hard to believe) then you obviously have bested me there.

Still, my point is that it should have never come to this. You never see the great teams having their heads held over a barrel by their players like we're seeing with the Panthers this offseason. That's on Hurney. He should have just worked out the Gross deal last season.

My understanding is that they could have worked out a deal up until June 2nd. After that the team would have to wait until February to work out a new deal. Some of that is on Hurney but in all honesty I don't think they are going to have a problem signing Gross as he has said publicly that he wants to stay in Carolina.

As for the Peppers situation, it caught everyone off guard. IMO Peppers and his agent did this on purpose once they saw Gross get franshised last season and it was a dirty move. The fact that money doesn't seem to be an issue says a lot.

[Doc Holiday]

I was just reading Florio's piece on all of the power Gross has over the Panthers organization in the next couple of weeks and made me realize just how bad Hurney is.

How did he manage to let it get to the point where half of our Pro Bowlers are going to be UFAs in a few weeks if nothing is done? If he and the team knew that Peppers didn't want to play with us anymore at the start of the season when he turned down that massive contract offer, why not trade him before the trading deadline so Peppers' agent couldn't make a power play by going public with Peppers' intent not to play here next year? Also, since he knew Peppers was unlikely to be here next year, why didn't he make it a priority to get JG resigned during the season like he did with Gamble?

I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree with you more, I think he's a good GM, he is awesome at manipulating cap numbers which he's one of the best in the NFL at doing, his drafting and FA can be very hit and miss some times though so I will give him a solid "Good" but not "Great" rating as a GM because of that.

And as for our Probowlers what your freaking out over now is something anyone that has been paying attention knew about at the start of the season, and they had been in contract talks with both Peppers and Gross the whole time.