Indianapolis Colts’ General Manager Ryan Grigson Needs Solid 2016 NFL Draft

The Indianapolis Colts have been relatively silent during the 2016 free agency. Aside from signing veteran cornerback Patrick Robinson and making a few minor deals, the Colts have done very little towards improving their roster. While this conservative approach was expected, it still puts the Colts in an uneasy position. They still have plenty of roster issues and will need to rely on general manager Ryan Grigson to address these concerns in the draft.

Normally, teams use the NFL draft to find players who will be long contributing members for their franchise. However, this fact has not always been the case for the Colts. The NFL draft has generally been a hit-or-miss event for Grigson. Out of his four draft classes, Grigson’s 2012 and 2015 classes have been the main success stories, while his 2013 and 2014 classes were major disappointments. With their lack of spending this year in free agency, the Colts need this year’s draft class to be a huge success.

A solid first round selection would definitely help the Colts this year, but unfortunately, the first round has been one of Grigson’s weaknesses as a general manager. After making the easy first round selection of Andrew Luck in 2012, Grigson has had issues with first round picks.

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The Colts just cut their 2013 first round pick Bjoern Werner earlier this offseason, and their 2015 first round pick Phillip Dorsett failed to make a strong impression last season. Also, Grigson traded the Colts’ 2014 first round pick for Trent Richardson, whose struggles forced the Colts to part ways with him after two seasons. Grigson will need to overcome his first round struggles if he wants the Colts to succeed in 2016.

Colts’ owner Jim Irsay is still confident in Grigson, which is why he gave Grigson a three-year extension. Grigson has proven he can spot talent, but he has also shown he is prone to misjudging talent. Hopefully for the Colts’ sake, he has learned from his failures because the team will be relying heavily on this year’s draft class in 2016.