INDIANAPOLIS, IN – AUGUST 22: Bjoern Werner #92 and Jonathan Newsome #91 of the Indianapolis Colts in action during a preseason game against the Chicago Bears at Lucas Oil Stadium on August 22, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Bears defeated the Colts 23-11. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
Ryan Grigson lasted too long as Colts’ general manager, and now the results of two drafts clearly show it.
In his first draft as Indianapolis Colts general manager, Ryan Grigson got lucky (pun intended) with No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck. That 2012 draft class yielded multiple other contributors, in tight end Coby Fleener, tight end Dwayne Allen, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton, nose tackle Josh Chapman and running back Vick Ballard.
Grigson was finally relieved of his duties after the 2016 season, at least a year too late. The rebuilding project new general manager Chris Ballard has had to lead, and Luck’s injury issues over the last couple years, have exposed a roster that was devoid of talent.
On Wednesday, Colts offensive lineman Jack Mewhort abruptly announced his retirement at 26 years old and after four NFL seasons. The Ohio State product and second round-pick in 2014 started 30 games over his first two seasons, but injuries limited him to just 15 games over the last two campaigns.
With Mewhort’s retirement, the Colts now have no players left from the 2013 and 2014 drafts. As an obvious indictment of Grigson, Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk offered a “where are they now?” of sorts for those two draft classes.
The end result is the Colts having zero remaining players from either of those draft classes.
The average NFL career is fairly short. So it’s safe to say a lot of teams don’t have a bunch of guys they drafted, and are still around entering their fifth or sixth seasons in the league. But having no one left from those classes, due to mostly bad picks and a couple ill-conceived trades, is a testament to Grigson’s ineptitude and the task Ballard took on when he was a hired to fix the mess.