Why Washington Football Team fans shouldn’t be upset with the Marty Hurney hire

Diving into Hurney’s tenure

With Hurney, we see a guy with a pretty average track record.  The terms dinosaur, recycled and retread are being thrown around unfairly.  Hurney has an excellent track record of first-round picks with Carolina.  Yeah, those are the easy ones right?  Well, as Washington fans, we should all know there are no sure things.

Hurney has also been the GM of Carolina when they nearly won the Super Bowl with Jake Delhomme.  He set the table for Rivera’s success and Super Bowl run.  His Carolina teams won 11-plus games five times over his 15 years.  Not that Washington fans need to be reminded, but that’s a feat this organization hasn’t achieved in nearly 30 years, including the 11 years Kyle Smith has been with the team.

The point is, there are so many moving parts in football and it’s difficult to win.  While there may be many paths to victory, there is one constant.  The relationship between the Coach and General Manager is the most important relationship in sports.  Ron Rivera is comfortable with Marty, it’s that simple.  People hire people they trust.  It’s common in all segments of life and it certainly holds true in football.  We’ve seen it many times from the most successful people in the league, including Joe Gibbs.

One of the reasons Rivera values Hurney dates back to 2012.  It was Rivera’s second season with the Panthers.  The team was in the midst of a 1-5 start to the season to follow up a 6-10 season in Rivera’s first year with the Panthers.  Carolina owner Jerry Richardson called Hurney into his office.  He was going to fire Ron Rivera.  Hurney told Richardson that Rivera was the right man for the job, and if he was going to fire anyone, then he should fire Hurney.  And that’s what Richardson did, he fired Hurney.  The team went 6-4 the rest of the way with Rivera and finished the season 7-9.

Over the next three seasons, the Panthers would make the playoffs three consecutive times and reached the Super Bowl with a 15-1 record.  Many of the players from the 15-1 Super Bowl teams were draft selections of Hurney, including Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis.

Rivera is a high-character guy, it’s no surprise he values his relationship with Hurney.

When Coach Rivera addressed his players after he was hired, Rivera asked them to trust the process and to do things his way.  If they fail, it’s on him.

Now it’s time the fans trust his process, it’s out of our control anyway.   If he fails, it’s on him.

Riviera has earned that trust and benefit of the doubt in his short time with Washington.  Again, as fans of the Washington Football Team, we’re programmed for the train-wreck.  But we need to let go of the past.  This regime has vision and the moves are calculated. It’s time we trust the process of the competent professionals in charge.