Go on record with your Hurney feelings here

[Guest Bwood]

There’s only one way to judge an NFL GM and that’s the record. Wins and losses.

In the 10 years Marty Hurney has been GM, the team’s record is 79-81.

So the team is just under .500 and the trend is not good.

The first five years, the record was 44-36.

In the last five years, the record has been 35-45.

So the performance has declined.

The overall record over the last 10 years is mediocre at best. Is that what you want, as a fan of this team? Mediocre?

Are you happy with declining performance?

Many people can get by in their jobs by being mediocre. However, the owner of an NFL team must expect everyone in the organization to perform at an elite level so the team can be in a position to compete for a division championship every season.

Why? Because the fans—the people who pay for the team by watching on TV, buying the stuff, paying for tickets, and guzzling $8.00 beers—rightly demand excellence.

Based on the record, the actual numbers, and you can’t argue with the facts, Marty Hurney’s performance has been mediocre. And it’s getting worse.

For the last five years, admittedly, we’ve had a revolving door at the QB position, which is vital to success in this, or any, division.

But Marty Hurney’s job is to find an excellent QB and he totally botched the Jake Delhomme situation. And then he felt confident Matt Moore was the answer and then he was giddy about Jimmy Clausen. On November 21, 2010, the starting QB was Brian St. Pierre who was signed off the street after being a professional clip board holder for several teams including the Cardinals and Steelers.

Hurney then spent a ton of cash signing the core of a team that went 2-14. He has way overpaid for certain players. While many of his draft picks have been superb, many have been look-away-awful. Every GM makes mistakes but the teams that have consistently won their divisions and made the playoffs over the last five seasons rarely make mistakes on the scale of a Jimmy Clausen or Armanti Edwards—two second round picks who spend Sundays in street clothes and would likely be scouring Monster and Career Builder for ‘real’ jobs if they were not taking up space on our roster.

I still argue that the ‘elite’ GM would not have let Julius Peppers walk out the door. Since Peppers left, our pass rush has been poor. Hurney totally mishandled that situation: it it was clear Peppers didn't want to be here, Hurney should have traded Peppers a year before the original contract ran out. Several teams would have offered serious draft picks for Peppers.

As a salary cap manager, I don’t know if Hurney is really that good. This article from the Sun-Sentinel in south Florida indicates that the Panthers are pretty much maxxed out right now.

While many teams are viewing the running back position as a commodity (and rightfully so) Marty Hurney is shelling out major cash for two running backs who are close to their sell-by dates. We’ll see how that works out.

The philosophy of building through the draft then keeping your better players is fine provided:

1. You draft well—especially in the first three rounds.
   
2. You resist the temptation to overpay the players who have performed well for you.
   
3. You’re willing to let players who believe they will be paid a TON more elsewhere walk out the door knowing you can reload with a younger player or free agent.
   

When I look at our roster, I struggle to see a lot of players that other teams would die to have: Newton. Beason. Smith. Stewart. Kalil. That’s it and that’s rather sad.

Now that John Fox has a QB it will be interesting to see what happens. If he’s successful in Denver then you would have to look at personnel decisions as being THE major factor in this team’s poor performance over the last five seasons.

Let’s not forget that the owner has kept Hurney around despite the poor recent performance of the team. But nobody is allowed to criticize the owner.

Based on what I’ve heard on the only football show makes any sense, Moving the Chains on Sirius, we, as fans, should pretty much erase the past because Hurney has finally drafted a rock star quarterback.

If you’re like me, your job depends on your performance. My clients will fire me if I don’t produce. It should be the same for Marty Hurney who is mediocre and getting worse--based on results. Would another team pay Marty Hurney several million dollars? I doubt it—based on his mediocre and declining performance.

So let’s see what happens over the next two games: two home games against elite competition. If we lose both, our chances of making the playoffs this season are pretty much done.

And then let’s see what this season looks like. If the team makes the playoffs then Hurney gets a pass. If we don’t, then it’s clear we’re not competitive in our division and if I were the owner, I would fire the entire personnel department—pro and college.

I was stunned when JR kept Hurney after letting Fox go. So there’s no guarantee that JR will look at another poor record and fire Hurney. I’ve been extremely critical of Hurney on this board but I will wait until the end of the season to say anything more about him. Let’s see what happens now he’s drafted a quarterback with elite potential. Payton Manning will make John Fox look better than mediocre. Let’s see if Cam Newton does the same for Marty Hurney.

Excellent post, I agree 100%

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

I hate the word "fug". Replace f*ck with something else, please.

[Malt Liquor]

Marty Hurney=below average. Which is where this team has been for a while now. Yes I like the Cam Newton pick. But that was a given. His time is up, he can't build a superbowl caliber team. It's the truth, I love the Panthers. So he should go next year because I want to see us win a superbowl one day..