Washington Football Team set to hire Marty Hurney as next GM

The Washington Football Team’s GM search has evidently come to an end. It looks like the team will be hiring Marty Hurney to lead the team’s front office.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Washington is expected to announce the hiring of Hurney at some point on Tuesday. Hurney, who started his NFL career in Washington’s PR department back in 1988, will be reunited with Ron Rivera with whom he worked closely during his tenure with the Carolina Panthers.

This hire is not one that will please many fans. Hurney’s track record with the Panthers is about as mixed as they come. While his history of success in the first round is sparkling, he has had little success unearthing gems on Days 2 and 3 of the draft. That has been a strength of Washington’s in recent seasons.

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In free agency, Hurney has landed some solid contributors, but he has a penchant for overspending to land or retain talented players. That is a red flag considering that Washington has had trouble during the Daniel Snyder era when it comes to overpaying big-name free agents and that weakness could quickly become a problem for Hurney and Co.

While these negatives do stand out for Hurney, his relationship with Rivera is a positive. It’s clear that both men work well together and the fact that Washington chose Hurney is a sign that Rivera was heavily involved in the decision-making for this hire. That’s refreshing to see that Washington is trying to build a synergistic front office as opposed to Snyder interfering and cramming together parts that don’t really fit.

What Marty Hurney’s hire means for the Washington Football Team

Now, the big question for Washington is, how will their front office be structured? Sure, Hurney will be leading the charge, but will he be making all of the decisions for the team or will he be in more of a facilitator role for the front office?

Fans should hope that it’s the latter. If Hurney is there to organize the front office and give it structure while relying on the staff that Washington already has to add talent, that could work out well. Kyle Smith has done an excellent job finding top-notch players during the draft. Eric Stokes is an up-and-coming pro personnel executive who earned a GM interview with Washington. Hurney should rely on their strengths to help build this team with Rivera having input on the roster as well. If that happens, this hire could pan out.

However, if Hurney is the be-all, end-all decision-maker for this team, some of his weaknesses, along with the weaknesses of the team’s ownership group when it comes to spending in free agency, could be magnified. Needless to say, this move is a risk and it’s one that lacks upside with the wrong structure.

So far, the decisions that Rivera has made running the Washington Football Team have mostly been good ones. Hopefully, Hurney’s hiring will fall into that category as well.

Next. Why Marty Hurney is not a good fit at GM for WFT. dark

For now though, it’s completely fair to be skeptical of this hire. Outside of Hurney’s relationship with Rivera, he just doesn’t seem like the right fit for what this team needs.

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