Did anyone listen to Hurney tonight on the Pulse?

[teeray]

no maybe I misspoke. He seemed to be implying they were the kind of player you'd want.

they also talked a ton about returners at the end. made me want peterson for that a bit, despite my earlier reluctance to have our top corner if we draft him returning kicks and punts.

Gotcha. You didn't misspeak I misread. :o

[DaveThePanther2008]

Appreciate you transposing this for us. I work overseas and the company I work for blocks just about everything. (Luckily they haven't found the huddle yet) Pod Cast are an no no and I can't listen to them.

From reading it sounds like talking to a politician. Alot of words and not much to say.

The new kickoff rule sounds interesting but otherwise I didn't get a clear indication one way or another.

I do believe it will be one of the big four. Green, Newton, Dareus or Peterson. I don't think we are entertaining any others.

[OchoNueve]

Thought Hurney really emphasized how much they need an impact player and they couldn't afford to miss with the #1 pick. With Cam being the "boom or bust" guy, i would assume his risk is too high for Marty to take a gamble.

Also, thought it was interesting that they said the "elite" kickoff returners would actually benefit from the rules change. I understand their logic, but i don't agree.

[MadHatter]

maybe im just reading into this 2 much but impact at there position and fell good about it...seems like newton 2 me..

Typical response from you guys.

Hey, he did not explicitely say we were not drafting Cam. Sounds like Cam is the definite pick to me.

[MadHatter]

J.H.:"I heard from Marty at 5:55 today, I figured you were locked up in meetings or so exhausted from hitting the town for a couple days with Cam Newton. Probably taking a nap."

Hurney: "Have had a number of players in this week (hmm), the closer you get you get preoccupied not only on the first pick but the rounds after that... as we were tlaking about before we got on, college scouts get in to town tonight... will meet with them tomorrrow and over the weekend and over the next couple weekends after that... position coaches will come in and do the readings of the players they have evaluated... will go from there.

J.H: Scouts do what?

Hurney: Go to schools... 5 area scouts. 2 national scouts. director of college scouting. national combine scout. make school visits during year. area scouts visit schools twice or three times. national scouts go over top of the area scouts and look at top 150 players, as does director of college scouting. I'll get out, get to games as much as possible. At march, going to workouts, talking to coaches and staff and everybody that we can to get as much information as we can on the kids. Set board first time in Dec. Go over it before combine and reset it. With pro days etc behind us, we change it. We set it based on highest grade at the end of the season.

JH: What changes it? Scouting report, attitude, areas of concern, combine speeds,

Hurney: All of the above. 3 people may grade a player so you'll adjust according to the conversation from that. All-star games. Combine. Pro Day Workouts. All the info you gather comes into play over the next 2-3 weeks. But really, you still fall back on the tape and what you saw during the season.

JH: Is #1 pick blessing or curse?

Hurney: Blessing if you pick the right guy. What's different about it? really only difference is that you know who is going to be there. Deal with more opinions about who you should take but you still have to make the right decision, same process. It's a critically important pick.

JH: Interesting thing is national pressure is on the #1 pick on the draft but a yard and a half, two years from now, will be analyzed for ALL of the picks as much as #1 pick unless that pick is Ryan Leaf or something. Real scrutiny is from later rounds.

Hurney: Have to hit on first pick. Have to get as much impact for your team, for your organization as possible. The picks that don’t' get the most attention, the ones after that, 4-7, that is where your depth comes from, future starters, where I think we've done a pretty good job and we just need to keep following that process.

JH: Have you been approached about trading down?

Hurney: No. I'll be asked that question over the next few weeks and at some point I'll stop answering it, but it just doesn't happen this early.

JH: How does it begin? Is it casual?

Hurney: A number of ways. Someone will have someone they know outside, through the media or whatever, try to gauge interest. I think more times than not the pro scouts call and gauge if there is any interest in a trade. When it is the most serious, GM calls GM, sometimes HC calls HC.

JH: Best player available at #1? Would it come down to position as opposed to player?

Hurney: When you're picking high, impact is important, to the entire team.

JH: Dareus looks like all but a lock to be a good player. Peterson looks to be a good player. If you wanted to go as safe as you could. Two guys. If you want to take a chance at being great, that’s where you take a Cam newton or something along those lines. But that is a chance... Picking the one that is going to be on the cover of magazines for the next 6 years.

Hurney: it's a combination, you try to pick the player you feel fairly certain he will be successful and that out of those players the one that will have the biggest impact on the organization. Two guys you mentioned (dareus/peterson)... you know, Dareus changes the way your defense plays, plays across the line... Peterson comes in, top punt returner, top corner... More guys than that but at the end of the day with the first pick you want to take that player that has the most impact on the team.

JH: How many players realistically are in your crosshairs? Will you answer?

Hurney: Yeah, I will. I've said 5 to 7 all along, but you know, I think you have an order in your head, but it's not in ink... You have a pretty good idea if the draft got moved to tomorrow but you keep digging in and keep evaluating them and being as thorough as you can.

JH: Is there a favorite in the clubhouse? A consensus among you and the staff?

Hurney: No because we haven't met with the staff until tomorrow. Do we have an idea? is there a list in my head? Yeah, but we'll sit down with the scouts, meet with the coaches for the evaluations, those things can change day to day, and certainly WILL change after we sit down with scouts and coaches.

JH: introduces Murphy, special teams coach

Murphy: Murphy jokes about being radio gold.

JH: Peterson's return abilities in addition to CBs... Brian Murphy coming on to talk about new kickoff rules... does it diminish Peterson's value as punt returner?

Murphy: Does not influence punt returner but DOES influence kick returners. Kickoff coverage team has to align within 5 yards of that line. Deeper kickoffs into the endzone. Coverage team won't be as fast on the field, so all that outcry of that hurt from the kickoff return team... the real guys at the disadvantage are the coverage guys since they can't build up speed... If you have a guy who can kick touchbacks you have a huge advantage. if you have a guy who can kick it deep with a b ig hang time I think you'll still have some returns.

JH: Different thing than you heard, Hurney?

Hurney: No. It can diminish some of the returning, and it creates some discussions about where you go personnel wise... If you have a guy who can kick the ball out of the endzone every time, I think a lot of teams will go that route... but if you have a guy that if you kick the ball 4-5 yards... What he's saying is more teams will elect to run the ball out, especially the better kick returners, because coverage team doesn't build up speed and momentum, will probably limit what the coverage team can do.

JH: Does this make PP any less valuable?

Hurney: No. I don't think so.. He's a guy that is a top player at his position and can punt AND kick return... It almost makes the elite returners MORE valuable.

Murphy: It does... I know this, when we went to the NFC championship game the year before last... we ended up playing Dallas and NO... both those team had kickers that could kick touchbacks and it really neutralized Percy Harvin... so we had to develop a way to get Percy Harvin to get the ball out... Guys like that aren't going to stay in the endzone... They have playmaking skills... Those balls are GOING to be brought out...

JH: As your first year as special teams coach in Minnesota, went from 20 something to 9th? Are you telling Hurney to get people on the night of the draft?

Murphy: If I waited till the draft to tell him that I'd have waited too long... Kick and punt returners make your team special... If those guys are good, the other 10 guys will produce better than they are capable of.

Hurney: Speed is even more important.

Murphy: Big tough guys, try hard guys, may not necessarily be the fastest... May be phased out because of rule change because you can't have a lot of guys on the field, will create gaps in coverage (:(). Have to take a look at team speed in backup positions. May not be a lot of room for those guys anymore.

JH: End up with special team monsters... can't get on field as DB/LB... Some guys are just made for special teams, are they not?

Murphy: They are... Those guys all have a certain trait... Very football smart... Get the dynamics of playing in space... Smart guys, effort guys, understand their liabilities and limits and they do things, position wise, to eliminate those deficiencies. It all starts with being football smart.

What can we infer from Hurney's responses?

Only that Hurney is still the master at not showing his hand.

I still would not be surprised if the pick were any of about 5 guys right now.

[thefuzz]

F*ckin Armanti Edwards trade!! God damn that still pisses me off Marty!!

Should have been fired for that one, especially on the heels of the Brown F UP.

[CRA]

Should have been fired for that one, especially on the heels of the Brown F UP.

Nah, too early....lameduck factors in HUGE there (and the lameduck thing was out of Marty's hands).

AE is a slot WR (that needed work). Fox almost exclusively has used 1 or 2 WRs in his sets since being paired up with Davidson. AE didn't get time to show where he was at WR position......he is too great of an athlete to call a bust b/c a coach didn't want to revamp his offense for him.

my money is on AE being better than Brown or Clausen

[mav1234]

Should have been fired for that one, especially on the heels of the Brown F UP.

there are rumors that JR is the one that forced the AE pick.

also I truly do not believe that Panthers Pulse last night gave any indication of where we were going definitively. If anything, it certainly should have added Dareus and Peterson to the conversation as potential picks.

I also found it interesting they'd had multiple people in this week. I wonder who else other than Cam Newton.

[Peppers90 NC]

i wouldnt even waste my time listening, you should know by now Hurney can say a thousand words and say nothing at all

[mav1234]

tbh, I like hearing what he has to say. I don't expect some great insight but sometimes he does provide some feedback on prospects other than Cam Newton, which is nice. ;)

[teeray]

tbh, I like hearing what he has to say. I don't expect some great insight but sometimes he does provide some feedback on prospects other than Cam Newton, which is nice. ;)

i wouldnt even waste my time listening, you should know by now Hurney can say a thousand words and say nothing at all

Do any of you guys play live poker?? I am not being a smart ass but I do and I listen not to see what he is saying but instead for voice inflections, or things that don't fit his regular answers, small miscues that give clues, if he is on TV you look at body language.

Believe it or not there are a lot of things a person can tell you without ever saying them.

I feel strongly that from his answers from the pulse and today that Cam Newton is VERY VERY high on the list.

I think he is sold on PP and Dareus both being worth the pick, and I don't think he is completely sold on Cam. BUT I think he wants to take Cam.

And because of that I think if he convinces himself that Cam is worth the pick he will be the pick.

Look at his answers about Dareus and PP yesterday on the pulse. They were short succinct and to the point. I don't think that was because he isn't interested in them, I think actually it is because he is sold that they will be great players. But when Florio asked him about rookie QBs today it was about a 2 and a half minute answer. Incredibly detailed about what it takes for a rookie QB to succeed, about fitting in the right system, having the right personnel, etc.

I think that is because he has done SO MUCH work on how Cam would fit here that he was just bubbling over with information to the point where even though he was trying to be short winded and short on details he still took over 2 minutes.

I don't want to misconstrue what I am saying. I am not saying he will be the pick, but I think Hurney has done a lot of soul searching on Cam and it leads me to believe that he is actually torn on whether Cam is the direction he really wants to go. But I do truly thinks he wants to pick Cam, and if he convinces himself he is worth the #1 pick he will pull the trigger (I guess that part is obvious lol :rolleyes:) In other words I think he has done a lot of work to try to convince himself that Cam is worth the #1 pick. What we don't know is if he has been successful in doing so.

Anyway, just my two cents. Anyone who plays poker can also tell you that even if you study this stuff all day long you still won't be right a lot of the time.