Derrick Brown

[TN05]

2 hours ago, strato said:

So who was evaluating? They have a different team for the first round? Crazy how lopsided it is. (I mean, Hurney was a sports writer before the NFL not a scout). 

I need to actually do a full analysis but I think the issue was more that we'd rarely have top-to-bottom awesome drafts but we'd frequently have drafts where only 2-3 players panned out, but the 1st is a Pro Bowler and the other two solid starters or backups.

We rarely had drafts where only 1 player was good, and we never had absolute useless drafts. At the very least we always had one really, really good guy. The worst was probably 2005 where we got Thomas Davis (Hall of Honor-quality player) and Geoff Hangartener. Evan Mathis was good, but only after he left.

[SmokinwithWilly]

The one that still blows my mind was if Burns hadn't been available Hurney was going to take Greg Little. He had a 1st round grade on him after that horrendous combine. We got so damn lucky Snyder drafted Haskins

[Car123]

11 hours ago, TN05 said:

Most of Hurney's picks weren't actually top-ten.

Top-ten picks

• Julius Peppers (2nd, 2002)
• Jordan Gross (8th, 2003)
• Cam Newton (1st, 2011)
• Luke Kuechly (9th, 2012)
• Christian McCaffrey (8th, 2016)
• Derrick Brown (7th, 2020)

Not top-ten picks

• Chris Gamble (31st, 2004)
• Thomas Davis (14th, 2005)
• DeAngelo Williams (27th, 2006)
• Jon Beason (25th, 2007)
• Jonathan Stewart (13th, 2008)
• Jeff Otah (19th, 2008)
• DJ Moore (24th, 2018)
• Brian Burns (16th, 2019)

It's really, really hard to find a franchise with such sustained first-round excellence though. Gettleman and especially Fitterer were absolutely terrible in the 1st

McCaffrey was Gettleman.

But yeah, Hurney never misses in the first round. Greatest GM when it comes to first round picks.

[Car123]

7 hours ago, strato said:

Hurney really relied on his scouts I think. Video wasn’t just pick up your phone or iPad and have it all right there. 
 

He lost me with the trade up I think it was Everette Brown which didn’t impress me but the killer was he gave a future 1st. 
 

I frown on that shut. 

All general managers rely on scouts.

[Car123]

2 hours ago, TN05 said:

 but we'd frequently have drafts where only 2-3 players panned out,

Isn’t this the norm? Very few teams, if any, have 4-5 players pan out per draft.

[Aussie Tank]

Stud just need quality LBs behind him to maximise his presence 

[Waldo]

11 hours ago, PleaseCutStewart said:

I'm going by the eyeball test. Outside of the Jacksonville game (which wouldn't have been the worst if Etienne didn't have that 70-yard run), we have done a good job of limiting first down runs to three yards or less a lot this season. The falcons game rushing stats look worse than it truly was - I think the falcons got about 60 rushing yards in garbage time when they were down 30. Otherwise, it has mostly been something around 25 carries for the other team for ~100 yards. 

 

Last season, it felt like every first down run was going for at least 6 yards.

 

Well having a healthy Brown is the biggest difference IMO. Best player on the D. last years average was 5.2 yards a run and it's 4.5 this year so far. And that's with Brown back. 

Edited October 9, 2025 by Waldo

[strato]

4 hours ago, Car123 said:

All general managers rely on scouts.

I think less for the top round people, everyone knows who they are and the GMs go in person to their pro days and stuff.  And in Marty’s case  specifically he didn’t come up as a scout, he moved from the newspaper office to the NFL front office, in contrast with a guy like Gettleman who came up the scout ladder. 
 

 The sheer volume of players when you get into the 3rd day and undrafted, I’d be leaning on them for a lot of help. 

I am curious about it how that really works after they submit their reports and it gets into narrowing the players down to a smaller group. 

Edited October 9, 2025 by strato

[shaqattaq]

21 hours ago, Panthera onca said:

His quickness is amazing for a man that size. 

[electro's horse]

6 hours ago, Car123 said:

All general managers rely on scouts.

Gettleman specifically did not and there are multiple stories of him changing his mind at the last second and being like “I’m the GM it’s a gut call blah blah blah”

all the scouts had told Devonte Adams he was going to be a panther, then at the last second gettleman decided he wanted Benjamin exclusively because of the catch in the national championship game. 

he did the same thing with andrew thomas in New York. 

[Car123]

18 minutes ago, electro's horse said:

Gettleman specifically did not and there are multiple stories of him changing his mind at the last second and being like “I’m the GM it’s a gut call blah blah blah”

all the scouts had told Devonte Adams he was going to be a panther, then at the last second gettleman decided he wanted Benjamin exclusively because of the catch in the national championship game. 

he did the same thing with andrew thomas in New York. 

First time hearing this. Jfc

[CPF4LIFE]

Love DB...if his pass rush ability ever matches his ability to stop the run....good lord.

 

[LinvilleGorge]

After we drafted Cam #1 overall in 2011 I honestly think we may have fared better simply throwing darts at the draft board for the rest of our picks. Couldn't have fared much worse.

[csx]

4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

After we drafted Cam #1 overall in 2011 I honestly think we may have fared better simply throwing darts at the draft board for the rest of our picks. Couldn't have fared much worse.

Luke was not shabby