Colts: Retaining Pagano and Grigson Shows Approval of Mediocrity
By Kyle Nishida
Reportedly, the Indianapolis Colts have decided to retain both general manager Ryan Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano. Retaining both of them is a shocking move and show owner Jim Irsay is fine with mediocrity.
Numerous reporters from around the league are saying Indianapolis will keep both Grigson and Pagano. It is safe to say most people who follow and support the Colts are not happen about this. Frankly, who could blame them?
Look, Irsay can honestly believe he has the right two people in charge of his franchise. It is his choice and his franchise. However, the facts and recent history show that this head coach-general manager combo is not working because each guy has their own faults specifically.
More from Ink on Indy
- Still Searching for Their Groove, Pacers Take on Struggling Magic Thursday Night
- Pacers Travel to the Nation’s Capital to Begin Four Game Road Trip
- Update on Pacers’ Oladipo’s Serious Leg Injury
- Has Romeo Langford Been a Disappointment for the Hoosiers?
- The Indianapolis Colts Have a Brutal Road Schedule in 2019
Let’s start with Pagano. He was the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts hired him because he orchestrated one of the NFL’s best defenses in 2011, and he was a secondary specialist. Well, it has been five years, and he has not put forth an tangible results.
In his five-year tenure as head coach, the Colts have struggled to be an average defensive team. Most of the time, they ranked in the bottom half of every important defensive category (yardage, scoring, etc.). This season, they were in the bottom fourth of the league in those categories.
He has a 49-31 record (including playoffs) as the Colts’ head coach. He even had three-straight 11-5 regular seasons from 2012 to 2014. However, the bad blowout losses throughout his tenure and the past two 8-8 seasons are not a good look.
Pagano has notable victories like a 34-28 win over the eventual Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks in 2013 and a 24-13 AFC Divisional Round win over the Denver Broncos. However, he has also suffered 21 double-digit losses and is 0-5 against the New England Patriots.
Meanwhile, Grigson’s shortcomings as a general manager are equally as bad as Pagano’s as a head coach.
Sure, the team had success in Grigson’s first three years as general manager. However, that was due to Andrew Luck and the players of the Bill Polian Regime. People forget the Colts still had key players from the 2009 Super Bowl team on the roster when Grigson and Pagano got there
Veterans like Reggie Wayne, Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney were still performing well. Solid secondary players like Antoine Bethea and Jerraud Powers were still around. Anthony Castonzo had just established himself at left tackle.
Mix these players with a rookie like Luck and the team was bound to win a decent amount of games. Grigson’s not responsible for the early success because most of those guys were not his players. When he started bringing in his own players is when the downturn of the roster began.
Grigson’s draft blunders include missing on the entire 2013 NFL draft class, trading their 2014 first round pick for Trent Richardson, using his 2015 first round pick on Phillip Dorsett, only drafting two offensive linemen in the first two rounds over five drafts.
At the same time, he signed overrated free agents like Arthur Jones, Gosder Cherilus, Donald Thomas, and LaRon Landry. He also signed players well past their prime like Hakeem Nicks, Andre Johnson and Trent Cole.
Typically, a NFL general manager gets fired for two bad years (sometimes one). Grigson has had three terrible seasons with 2012 and 2016 being his best. Honestly, it is amazing he still has a job.
With all of these negatives, Irsay still believes the Colts are heading in the right direction. In reality, they are not. They are just treading water, and on the verge of a tailspin downward.
Irsay can say all this stuff about how it is unacceptable for the Colts to be a non-Super Bowl contending team. However, his satisfaction with Grigson and Pagano only shows he is happy with being a mediocre team.
There is always potential for Pagano and Grigson to turnaround this franchise, but frankly, those odds are very low. These two already have an extensive track record of being mediocre.
Next: Colts Found Some Gems in Their 2016 Rookie Class
The Colts’ best move would to move on from Pagano and Grigson, and that decision can only be made by Jim Irsay. Unfortunately, the Colts are doing just fine in his mind, and he probably will not notice things have gone awry until it is too late.