The Washington Football Team is expected to make Marty Hurney its new general manager, ESPN sources confirm.
The move, first reported by the NFL Network, presents another familiar face for coach Ron Rivera.
Hurney spent parts of five seasons with Rivera in Carolina after being fired twice. He hired Rivera in 2011 and spent another year there before being impeached.
He returned in 2017 as interim general manager and stayed in that job until he was fired in December, in part because his ‘old-school’ methods clashed with owner David Tepper’s desire to find someone more in line with a analysis and data-driven approach.
Rivera will still have power on the football side of the organization, as she has been hired to deliver a “coach-focused” model, owner Dan Snyder said. But Washington wanted to add one more person to its front office to ease some of Rivera’s administrative burden. Hurney was responsible for, among other things, the salary ceiling in Carolina. Last off-season, Washington hired his former Carolina assistant Rob Rogers to take on that role.
Washington also spoke with former Detroit general manager Martin Mayhew, vice president of player staff Ryan Cowden in Tennessee and director of professional staff Eric Stokes in Washington. Rivera has not interviewed Kyle Smith, Washington’s vice president of player staff, who has been with the franchise for 11 years.
Hurney returns to an organization that he had covered as a sports journalist. He reported on the team for The Washington Times for four years before moving to the team’s public relations department. In 1990 he became the assistant general manager of San Diego.
Washington hired 12 former Carolina coaches plus senior track and field trainer Ryan Vermillion after landing on Rivera. It also hired Rogers, Stokes, and pro scout Donnie Warren, who had also been with the Panthers.