Washington Football Team is expected to make Marty Hurney its new general manager, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The move, first reported by the NFL Network, offers coach Ron Rivera another familiar face.
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 fired.
He returned in 2017 as interim general manager and remained in that position until he was sacked in December, in part because his ‘old school’ methods clashed with Mr David Tepper’s desire to find someone more in line with a analysis and data driven approach.
According to owner Dan Snyder, Rivera will still have the power on the football side in the organization, after being appointed to provide a ‘coach-centric’ model. But Washington wanted to add another person to its front office to take away from Rivera’s administrative burden. Hurney handled the salary cap in Carolina, among other places. Last off-season, Washington hired his former Carolina assistant Rob Rodgers to handle the role.
Washington also spoke with former Detroit general manager Martin Mayhew, Tennessee’s vice president of player staff, Ryan Cowden, and the director of pro 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 he previously discussed as a sports writer. He spent four years for the Washington Times before moving into the team’s liaison department. He became San Diego’s assistant general manager in 1990.
Washington hired 12 former Carolina coaches and athletics head coach Ryan Vermillion after he landed Rivera. It also hired Rodgers, Stokes and Donnie Warren, pro-scout, who was also with the Panthers.