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What does an NFL GM do, anyway?

Cyberjag

By Cyberjag,
in Carolina Panthers

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Cyberjag Newbie

Cyberjag

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So, as far as I know, an NFL General Manager builds the roster with the help of the coach and runs the scouting department.  Basically, his job is all about contracts, cuts and the draft.  At rare, unhappy times he's tasked with hiring a coach, and potentially assistants, but often the assistants thing rests on the coach.

Apparently, Gettleman did something in al that which rubbed JR the wrong way and got fired.  And now everyone is freaking out about it.  Hurney may become our interim GM, and that's got people freaking even more.  But step back from the ledge and look at this rationally.

First, take a look at Hurney and look at his entire body of work.  He was the GM here for 11 freaking years.  Do you have any idea how rare that is in the NFL?  I don't know how instrumental he was in hiring Fox, but the two of them took a lower tier team and made it relevant, bringing us from 1-15 to the Super Bowl in two years.  Yeah, they never had back to back winning seasons, but over their first 7 years together they compiled a record of 63-49, and a 5-3 record in the playoffs.  Those records were both top 5 in the NFL over that span.

We all know what happened in 2009-2010.  Fox was not extended, was not going to be extended, didn't get it done in 2009 and was forced to work out his contract in 2010.  Our drafting went to poo those two years, because Hurney was all on his own and he kind of sucked at that without an engaged coach to help.  Our contracts also started really sucking around that time, likely because of Richardson's involvement but that's never going to be confirmed.

Anyway, we got Cam out of all that crap.  The next year we got Luke, which pissed off a lot of people at the time but it's worked out.  Then we kept stumbling (Riverboat hasn't emerged yet, remember?) and Hurney finally gets fired.

Why are we going back over this?  Well, it's mainly to reassure you that Hurney's presence on the staff isn't a death knell for the franchise.  Between he and Rivera, with the guidance of the scouting department, I would be comfortable with him come draft time.  Sure, Gettleman was great—remember 2014?  But Hurney didn't suck either.  And besides, that's irrelevant.

Consider this.  If he's truly interim, and he probably is, he will be tasked with navigating TD's extension and probably a new contract for Olsen.  He *might* be called on to sign Norwell and Turner to long term deals, but that's just speculation at this point and I doubt it happens.  Aside from TD and Olsen, contract work has been done for this year.

Thomas Davis is currently on a two year, 18 million dollar contract.  He wants to be extended again.  At his age, I think another two year deal would be appropriate, and I doubt it would be as high as his current deal.  I think we're going to hear about a deal where he's getting a three year 21 million deal, basically extending what he has now while somehow lowering his cap hit this year from 8.25 million down to 6.75 million this year.  I would be plenty happy with that, it gives us 1.5 million if we need it.

Greg Olsen wants to be paid like a top three Tight End, and I don't blame him.  He has a cap hit this year of 10.35 million, and he's a UFA in two years.  I can see us giving him a four year deal at 40 million, which would put him in the top tier and it wouldn't really affect his current cap hit much.

So after you see those, what then?  We'll have some money to pay for veteran fill-ins when injuries hit, but other than that the GM doesn't do a lot this time of year.  At this point, it's all on the coaches.  The GM is going to manage the scouts and approve their expenses until it's time to turn our attention to Free Agency, at which point we should have a replacement for Hurney.

So why the panic?  I don't think G-Man's departure is going to make a bit of difference in the upcoming season, and I don't think Hurney's presence will hurt either.  If anything, it may make some of our vets feel more secure.

So quit your bitching until we see what the next guy looks like.  It's almost time for Training Camp, let's think about that instead.

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Cyberjag Newbie

Cyberjag

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3 minutes ago, Salisburysean98 said:

What did he do that was so special?  What did Hurney do here?

Superbowl a year quicker than Gettleman, without a franchise QB.  Also, built a roster that was pretty damned competitive for longer than most GMs last with one of the NFL's best records over that span.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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I don't really think you can point to Hurney being here for 11 years as a sign of success given that most of those years did not produce winning seasons.

He lasted as long as he did because Richardson values loyalty over performance. It's not really a feather in his cap.

 

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Salisburysean98 Newbie

Salisburysean98

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10 minutes ago, Cyberjag said:

Superbowl a year quicker than Gettleman, without a franchise QB.  Also, built a roster that was pretty damned competitive for longer than most GMs last with one of the NFL's best records over that span.

I guess to the Hurney fans a Superbowl appearance one year quicker makes ALLLLLLLLLLL the difference in the world to someone who was in office for 4 years and got more done to actually HELP this suffocating franchise take the pillow away from it's face so it could actually breathe. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

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