The Washington Football Team is hiring Martin Mayhew as its new general manager, a source told ESPN on Thursday, adding another experienced voice to help coach Ron Rivera.
Mayhew interviewed Rivera on January 16 and has long been considered a strong candidate. Among other well-known interviews, Washington also spoke with Ryan Cowden, vice president of personnel for players in Tennessee, Nick Polk, director of football operations for Atlanta and JoJo Wooden, director of personnel for players for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Mayhew had a longer track record in the front office and had also gained a reputation for working with his top coaches. In Washington, Rivera has the power, so the general manager will report to him. He and Mayhew share the same agent, but Mayhew also brings extensive experience. He served as Detroit general manager from 2008-15 – after eight years in the Lions front office. Rivera said she wanted someone who could also take over the administrative role for the position.
Washington is also expected to hire former Carolina general manager Marty Hurney, although his role has not yet been specified according to a source. These details were still being worked out on Thursday night. ESPN had previously reported that Hurney should become Washington’s GM after he met Rivera, football’s top energy broker on Monday. Hurney was part of the group that hired Rivera in Carolina; he was fired in 2012, but has returned at 17 for Rivera’s last three seasons. Hurney covered the Washington franchise for the Washington Times in the late 1980s before joining the organization’s public relations group.
Mayhew was named GM of Detroit in late 2008, after Lions finished season 0-16. Detroit had 8-24 in its first two seasons. Lions made postseason in 2011 and ’14, the only two years in which they had a winning record during their tenure. Overall, Detroit was 41-63 in its seven and a half seasons.
Mayhew hired Jim Caldwell in 2014 to replace the first coach he had hired, Jim Schwartz. Detroit fired Mayhew in the middle of the 2015 season. But his hiring of Caldwell paid off: Detroit ended three winning seasons in Caldwell’s four years, with two playoff appearances. It was the first time that Detroit has recorded consecutive winning seasons since 1994-95.
A person who trained under Mayhew called him “intelligent, analytical, sensible” and someone who remained calm. He was able to have disagreements without becoming divisive. He also said that Mayhew sometimes has no intuition for players, but he thinks the problem can be lessened if someone else on his team offers that quality.
Mayhew was the director of football operations for the New York Giants in 2016, before joining the San Francisco office a year later. He spent two years as a senior executive and the last two as vice president of gambling personnel.
Mayhew played four years as a defensive player in Washington, winning a Super Bowl in the 1991 season. His time in Washington was sandwiched between a season in Buffalo and four in Tampa Bay.