Marty Hurney

I sent this to Fowler, Sorensen, and Gantt:


I realize it's not the New York Post, but I wish someone affiliated with the Charlotte Observer would have the courage to write a column questioning Marty Hurney's continued employment with the Carolina Panthers. Calling for anyone's dismissal is nothing to be taken lightly, yet isn't in part of your job to not only evaluate the players on the field, but also the performance of the coaching staff and front office? It's mystifying that Hurney is so universally panned by the fan base, and yet those covering the team remain conspicuously quiet. Is it because of his background as a sportswriter, and you feel some sort of fraternal loyalty to him as a result?

Let's start with the contracts, beginning with those given to Ken Lucas, Mike Wahle, Justin Hartwig, Ma'ake Kemoeatu, and others. Those were not bad players, but in a salary cap environment one of the worst things you can do as a general manager is to sign mediocre talent at extraordinary prices. Now look at extensions given to solid but unspectacular players already with the Panthers. Despite his laughable Pro Bowl appointment, I think we can all admit that Jordan Gross isn't the second best offensive tackle in the league, despite being the second highest paid at the time of his extension. How has the Chris Gamble contract worked out? What about Travelle Wharton? Again, these are not worthless players, but they are part of a pattern in grossly (pardon the pun) overpaying for average production. And that's before we even get to the unforgivable incident where Marty Hurney gave Jake Delhomme the richest contract for any 34 year old in league history after coming off the worst playoff performance in league history. The fact that they didn't have to pay the full amount is irrelevant. Meanwhile, regardless of who you ultimately blame for Julius Peppers leaving, it's fair to say that Hurney didn't handle that situation well. Having such an elite defender leave for no compensation whatsoever is mind-boggling.

Now move to Marty Hurney's continued insistence on trading future draft picks. For a while some of you even lauded his decision to trade up for Otah, but that was always a mistake. The trade value chart invented by Jimmy Johnson is not the final arbiter, but it means something, and by those standards the trade did not come anywhere close to "fair value." The Panthers had drafted DeAngelo Williams only two years prior, and could have taken Otah with the original first round pick before following with Ray Rice, Matt Forte, or Jamaal Charles in the second round if running back was viewed as such a pressing need. You don't spend two first round picks on players at the same skill position within three years unless you're Matt Millen. Remember that to get Otah with the 19th pick, the Panthers gave up the 43th, the 109th, and the following year's first. That then resulted in Hurney trading the 2010 first-rounder (17th overall) for the rights to Everette Brown. And once again in this past draft he gave what turned out to be the #33 overall pick in exchange for the right to draft Armanti Edwards. Moreover, let's not overlook that he also attempted to trade away this season's first in order to move up and get Jimmy Clausen.

This is a track record of disaster rivaled only by those general managers who also own their teams (Al Davis & Mike Brown). Marty Hurney seems like a nice man, and I wish him many happy years, but the evidence of his incompetence as an NFL general manager has moved past the point of being overwhelming. The historical turnover in the NFC South gives me irrational hope as a fan, but the reality is that the Panthers look set to remain bottom-feeders for years to come, and it's not because of John Fox. Someone needs to speak up. Someone needs to represent the frustrations of the fans and publicly ask the team their reasoning for not making a change in the front office given these myriad mistakes. I'm hoping that one or more among you will finally be willing to do that.


P.S. While the complaints about Julius Peppers taking plays off were always nonsense (I could explain why if you cared), Nick Fairley actually does, so add that to your concerns about him being dirty and only having one season of success.

 

Sorensen's response:

 

Gantt's response:

 

You should drop a Moose reference on Gantt. That seems to get under his skin. I stopped expecting much from those guys a while back.

 

I wasn't expecting much, but at least Yasinskas used to write articles based on my Emails if I did all the research and formed the opinion for him.

 

They all read TBR. That was pretty much proven while you were away. I'll see if I can dig up the thread later on.

 

I have felt for a long time now that Hurney is the number one problem with the Panthers, if Fox was the other have of the draft and contract decisions then half of that duo is gone yet the other part remains.

I expected Gantt to blow you off, He's always sniffed Edwards jock,I recall him on 610 trying to tell us how Peyton Manning was I don't recall his exact words but that he was a less than stellar Qb. Always thought he was full of shit

Sorenson come across as smug, like he thought he was smarter than you or knew more much like he does in his columns.

 

I don't think you should have used the (pardon the pun) in the second paragraph. You couldn't be taken seriously after that.

 

My guess is that they tuned him out when he dropped the 'fraternal loyalty' bomb on them.