Ryan Grigson Discusses Colts Long-Term Salary Cap Situation, System for Success

According to an interview with WTHR 13’s Bob Kravitz, Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson discussed his team’s long-term salary cap situation going forward–having recently handed out some lucrative multi-year extensions to core players:

"“When you make those types of investments–not only signing our own and the huge contracts we did–and that’s T.Y. (Hilton), (Anthony) Castonzo, all of those guys–including our quarterback, you’re in a different fiscal environment than you’ve ever been in before,” said Grigson in the interview. “That’s just the facts. That’s the reality.”“But we have to be able to within that (fiscal) environment, we have to hit like no other in the draft. Those select free agents that we are able to sign–that we do have the funds to sign, we have to nail them. We expect to.”"

It comes just a week after Grigson undertook significant media criticism for the following quote (which to be fair, should be taken in complete context), regarding recently making his superstar quarterback Andrew Luck the highest paid player in NFL history and the subsequent salary cap shortfall:

However, specifically regarding the draft, Grigson referenced his front office predecessor Bill Polian‘s Hall of Fame resume by bringing up both Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis–whom Polian selected in the 1st round (Pick #11) and 5th round (Pick #138) in the 2002 and 2003 NFL Drafts respectively:

"“It’s really no different–I think if you even look at the past here, Dwight (Freeney) was a part of those great teams that were here before us,” added Grigson. “They had gotten him off of a 6-10 season, and then they hit on Robert (Mathis) with a 5th round pick.”"

That prolific pass rushing tandem went on to produce 107.5 sacks (Freeney) and 118.0 sacks (Mathis) for the Colts–ranking #2 and #1 respectively on the franchise’s all-time career sack list, as well as a Super Bowl XLI Championship.

However, Grigson noted that he doesn’t plan on limiting his evaluation of his own success to purely the NFL Draft, as he mentioned even hitting on future college and street free agents too–specifically mentioning freshly signed cornerback Rashaan Melvin–who’s made some key plays in recent weeks.

"“We have to nail the college free agents,” said Grigson. “We have to get lucky on a couple of street free agents like Rashaan Melvin. We’ve got to be able to hit on those guys.”"

Not to mention, his desire to hit on more late round draft picks and to acquire more draft picks in the process if it’s ultimately beneficial to the franchise:

"“We have to be able to do things like that,” added Grigson. “I have to be able to find those type of players late in the draft because our resources are shrunk to a degree. I do like to always acquire extra picks, and we’ve been successful in doing that every draft for the most part, so the more picks you get the better–the more compensation picks you get the better. That gives you health going forward from a big picture perspective like the real sound teams do in the NFL, and I want to follow that model.”“So we have to be great about the draft and all of those other parts of it.”"