In 2003 Panthers GM Marty Hurney was runner-up as NFL Executive of the Year, and the Panthers went to their first Super Bowl, losing to the New England Patriots 31-28. That was Hurney’s second year as GM, although he wore several hats from 1998-2012 in his first tour of duty with the team.
If going to the Super Bowl so quickly is a primary criteria, we’ll have to wait for several months to determine whether—like the Panthers Bill Polian’s back-to-back Exec awards in 1995, 1996 and with the Colts in 1999 —he gets the respect his efforts last year and his draft class from 2018 should get for such top-level consideration.