Colts job one of the most enticing GM spots in NFL
The Job is open.
This is the one pretty much every prospective general manager had been eyeing for two years now: the chance to build around quarterback Andrew Luck with the Indianapolis Colts, who fired Ryan Grigson on Saturday after five seasons.
Owner Jim Irsay told reporters Chuck Pagano will remain coach in 2017, but he made clear the new GM will evaluate Pagano and everything else going forward.
And with that, the Colts entered a new era that starts with a line of would-be GMs outside team headquarters — Grigson's interim replacement, Jimmy Raye III, among them.
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The young personnel guys on everyone's radar — among others, New England's Nick Caserio, Green Bay's Eliot Wolf and Brian Gutekunst, Seattle's Trent Kirchner and Minnesota's George Paton, who is set for a second interview next week with the 49ers for the NFL's only other GM opening — figure to be in play. Same with the more seasoned likes of Atlanta's Scott Pioli.
Who wouldn't jump at the chance to put a team around a 27-year-old quarterback who profiled out of college like a Hall of Famer and is already locked up through 2021, especially when the bar has been set so low?
The possibility Irsay will talk Peyton Manning into taking over football operations always looms, but that can be addressed contractually and is a relatively small risk to run. If Pagano doesn't produce, the GM figures to get his own coach in 2018 (which is intriguing when envisioning, say, a Caserio-Josh McDaniels match in the offing.)
Frankly, it's amazing Grigson lasted this long, given the likelihood Irsay knew how many people coveted this job and the Colts' inability so far to get over the hump with Luck, whose presence should make them runaway favorites in the weak AFC South every season.
Setting aside the telling, personal celebration of Colts players (most notable punter Pat McAfee) at Saturday's news, there were pure football problems with Grigson's roster-building approach. He lacked a clear vision, was known to resist input from others (though that had improved in recent years) and had a habit of overpaying in free agency, sometimes for aging veterans who had little or nothing left.
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Wasting one first-round pick on a trade for running back Trent Richardson and another on linebacker Bjoern Werner were just two of Grigson's most glaring errors. His remark in an October radio interview that it's going to take longer to build a defense after giving Luck a five-year, $123 million contract extension became a running joke in league circles. (Side note: Luck's cap number peaks at $28.4 million, which doesn't look bad at all as the salary cap keeps rising.)
To Grigson's credit, he resisted whatever ridiculous urge existed to take Robert Griffin III over Luck in the 2012 draft. He got star receiver T.Y. Hilton with a third-round pick in the same draft. The Colts' maligned offensive line finally seems to be heading the right way, thanks in part to drafting center Ryan Kelly and others last year.
Pagano, whose defensive background hasn't exactly made a mark, isn't blameless for the Colts' struggles over the past two years. Neither is Luck, who needs to get the ball out faster, reducing risk of injuries that have taken their toll (leading most recently to surgery on his throwing shoulder).
But the Colts' biggest problem remains a defense that's devoid of difference-makers, putting constant pressure on Luck and company to rise above it. That falls at Grigson's feet.
It apparently took Irsay almost three weeks to come to the conclusion Grigson wasn't the man to get things right. It shouldn't take nearly that long to reveal how many others want to handle that task instead.
Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.
