Possible Cam Newton reunion with Ron Rivera a similar QB predicament to the Panthers’
The parallels are hard to ignore.
Up in Washington, former Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera and general manager Marty Hurney have officially been reunited. Hurney is in the role of vice president of football/player personnel for the Washington Football Team, while Martin Mayhew, formerly an executive with the San Francisco 49ers, is the general manager.
Mayhew and Hurney had a combined introductory news conference Wednesday with Rivera also virtually in attendance. Both will be reporting to Rivera, who will be making the final decisions for the organization and decided to hire both men to put as much experience as possible in Washington’s front office. Hurney described it as an “ideal situation” after being fired by Carolina in December.
Of course, there are the obvious similarities. Most notably, Hurney and Rivera reuniting after the head coach had already brought a significant number of people over from Carolina with him last year. Rivera wanted to continue what he started with Hurney as he “really loved” both as candidates for front office roles after a three-week process.
It is also a return home for Hurney, who is from Maryland and began his NFL career first as a sports reporter and then in the public relations department for Washington.
“It’s neat to come back home. I grew up here,” Hurney said Wednesday. “It’s great to return. ... Obviously, I have spent time with Ron and have a very good relationship with him. I’ve known Martin for 30 (years). Martin was a player in 1989 when I was here in public relations, and I think the most important thing is philosophically, all three of us are on the same page and we can have direct and honest discussions.”
But Washington’s current quarterback situation, and the answers that were given about it Wednesday, also resembled similarities to the Panthers, both past and present as all eyes are on who will be the future of the position for Carolina.
Hurney was responsible for drafting arguably the Panthers’ most notable quarterback of all time in Cam Newton with the No. 1 overall pick in 2011 during his first tenure as general manager from 2002-12 (he also held the position, initially on an interim basis, from 2017-20). During the course of Newton’s nine seasons in the NFL, there was mixed success when it came to building an offense around him, from the offensive line to the receiving group. A lack of consistency at positions, including left tackle, proved to be a common issue.
The time with Newton resulted in a Super Bowl appearance, but not a win. Hurney noted Wednesday that there is a “big difference” between getting to the big game and actually winning it. Part of that is building around the quarterback.
“You want to be aggressive, but you do not want to mortgage the future (when getting a quarterback),” Hurney said. “This is a team game. I mean, as important as that quarterback position is, you have to have people around him, you have to have an offensive line to protect him. You have to have skill players. You can’t isolate one position, although it is an extremely important one.”
Hurney, 65, is in the later portion of his career. A desire to work collaboratively with Mayhew and Rivera and use the information from their combined experiences is evident. The pieces on teams of Carolina past were not enough to even put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history. Getting to that next step is the big goal with Hurney coming to Washington.
Which brings us back to Carolina now.
The Panthers, and Washington, are seeking answers at quarterback, which for Carolina includes an interest in Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is known as one of the top young quarterbacks, but has not been on consistently successful teams. Any team that would hypothetically be in a position to trade for Watson would have to give up a significant amount to do so, likely multiple first-round picks and key young players. Hurney and Rivera cautioned against jumping all in for one player, even if he is a top-notch quarterback, while new Panthers GM Scott Fitterer has championed the importance of the Panthers being in “every deal.”
“As Marty said, it’s something that we talked about a long time ago. If you do have your franchise quarterback, can you protect him and do you have enough playmakers around him? I’d hate to go out and get a franchise quarterback or have a franchise quarterback and not have enough tools in place to make him efficient,” Rivera said.
“It’s interesting because you talk about some of these quarterbacks that are out there right now a lot of people go, ‘Oh, wow, look at what he’s done.’ But then you say, ‘Yeah, but he hasn’t won a lot.’ Well, that’s because he hasn’t had all the tools around him.”
The Panthers have shown that they do not believe Teddy Bridgewater, someone Hurney assisted in bringing in, is “the guy” through their pursuit of Matthew Stafford and a lack of verbal commitment to Bridgewater over the last month.
Washington is in a similar position with names like Alex Smith and Kyle Allen among the options. After moving on from former first-round pick Dwayne Haskins, there is not an obvious franchise quarterback in the building. But a familiar name was also brought up to Rivera during the press conference.
What about bringing in soon-to-be free agent Newton?
“We’re exploring all of our options. Nothing is off the table,” said Rivera, who cannot specifically discuss players currently under contract due to tampering rules. “As we go through this, we’re going to do what we believe is best for us.”
▪ Roster move: The Panthers signed tight end Stephen Sullivan to a reserve/future contract. Sullivan was a seventh-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks while Fitterer was with the team in 2020, appearing in one game. He played for Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady at LSU.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 6:15 PM.
