Is Panthers GM Marty Hurney a good drafter?

However, the number of years a player has started in Carolina could be skewed given the coaching staffs propensity to stick with vets. Often to a fault.

The 2003 draft was absolutely useless aside from Gross, but he was a no-brainer. Overall I’d give him a C-, but he is getting better. It’s about as inexact of a science as their is, so you have to look at realistically. You can say things like, “oh we should have picked Aaron Rodgers in 2005,” but his success (at least statistically) in GB would not necessarily transfer to Carolina…he could have been another Randy Fasani if he came here.

Ultimately, some of the responsibility has to fall on the player. These are grown men, and its impossible to know everything about a prospect prior to the draft. Plus, where you go has a lot to do with how good you’ll. Good coaching or coaching that fits a player can make all the difference, too.

Great job tabulating all this data for this post Epik.

I believe that Hurney is an above average GM, and we are better off taking the bird in the hand instead of a potential two in the bush. I think he will survive the upcoming coaching purge, and will be part of the rebuilding effort.

One thing of note, even though you research shows that he is slightly below average when drafting consistent starters, it seems that the ones that he does draft become not only starters but high impact players. I think a man with Ryan Kalil, Jordan Gross, Jon Beason, DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart, Julius Peppers, Chris Gamble (and many more) on his draft resume has got to be doing his job quite well.

One of the most important things you can look at when you look at Marty Hurney is to look at his success in the first round. All of the players have been roughly looked at and have become the building blocks of our franchise as the Fox years have gone by.

With that said, we could have done a better job in this last draft. Some of it is hindsight, which we all know is 20-20. But a lot of our picks just didn’t make sense. Trading a 2nd round pick for next year in order to draft Armanti Edwards? What? No defensive tackles taken in the first day. Grabbing up Tony Pike in spite of having Hunter Cantwell. Some of these picks just didn’t make sense, and they could have been used on other positions of need.

He’s got a good draft record, and it’s enough to retain him, but we’re showing a disturbing trend of trading away higher picks in order to draft lower round players where there is more of a probability of a bust. If this trend keeps going on, or worse, if it expands….we may have to think of getting rid of him.

But not now.

If you had told me we’d be a “draft first” team 10 years ago, I’d have said you were on crack! Rev’s right though…hindsight being 20-20, it is a little odd how our draft went this year. However, it is really hard to grade a draft right out of the gate….Who would’ve thought Jovan Haye would’ve become a starter with the Bucs? Hell, raise your hand if you though Charles Johnson was going to stick with the team this long?

Seidman was poised to be our replacement for walls, but he injured his ACL 2 years in a row and never recovered…Gaines did end up starting for someone else, but he was definitely a case of unfulfilled potential. King is a good starter and would start on many teams in the league (at least teams that don’t rely on the TE as a deep receiving threat….he’s an awesome redzone target though). Barnidge I can’t figure out; he has all the makings of a receiving threat, but who knows…..Rosario would definitely start for many teams as well.

Weinke was a QB with terrific mechanics (still does…does a lot of work with young QB’s now) but was just too old to spend a lot of resources on….I think with a better team in 2001 he could’ve forged a more successful career. Certainly would’ve started him over some of the other QB’s he was drafted with lol

Good read and good job getting the info. I vote to keep Hurney. Compared to other GM’s in the league, the guy could have been a lot worse.

He’s done pretty well with his draft pick overall, but I’d wish he’d stay away from draft day trades. He seems to fall in love with certain players that he thinks are “steals” in the draft (E. Brown, A. Edwards). Not that these picks won’t turn out to be good players, but he gives up too much in order to draft them. Which in doing so, kind of negates the whole getting a “steal” in the draft thing. I was extremely upset and perturbed to why we traded a late 3rd pick (regardless of who we drafted) for our 2nd rounder in this years draft. I was angry about the trade then, but now I’m even more upset considering the pick is most likely going to be 33rd overall. The only big draft day trade recently that worded out for us has been when we drafted Otah and Stewart in the 1st round.

It wasn’t until 2006 that we really started putting together solid drafts. 2005’s draft class was especially terrible. However, ever since then, they really seem to have changed things for the better. I’m still not sold though…

Like you said, he’s not great, but not horrible.

when he was drafted. 6’6" 250+ huge arm, great running ability, accuracy questions…When Tampa traded to get him Buc fans howled. The message boards were blowing up in anger and their FO was beaming like they just saw boobs for the first time. I recall one post saying this was the death knell for the Glazer family and the Bucs with such a poor move…I know it is early but I’m thinking the Bucs have a legit franchise QB now. Someone that regardless of the cast around him gives them a shot at winning on almost any given day.

Here’s to hoping we land that in this coming draft or already have that in the fold.

as it is well documented in this thread. I do want to point out that (present year excluded), the Panthers have been a very good team at best, and mediocre at worst, meaning Hurney hasn’t had top 10 picks to work with ever. Find me a GM that doesn’t have a Jarrett in their closet. The best GMs swing and miss from time to time, which is better than keeping the bat on your shoulder. There have been enough home runs… what the frak am I doing, I don’t even like baseball that much. For those of you focusing on recent draft decisions, you’re entitled to your opinion. I would just caution that the rookie (or even 2nd year) pro-bowler is the exception rather than the norm.

although shouldn’t be surprising since he worked for him once upon a time lol

I have been wondering about this for a while now…thanks for doing the legwork!

The drafting players who are starters argument only works if those starters produce a wins.

- Record with Marty in his first 4 years 36/28.

- Record with Marty in his last 5 years 36/41.

I don’t think he’s the worse drafter ever but, arguing that he is a average to good drafter because the players he drafts are starters only makes sense if those players produce wins. Who cares how many players you drafted are starters if you’re 1-12? I could draft that good.