Colts Grigson Hunting For a Super Bowl

“Ain’t No Fun When the Rabbit Got the Gun.”

The Indianapolis Colts went from being the seemingly hunted to the hunter this offseason, when General Manager Ryan Grigson made a handful of aggressive high-profile free agent signings with a Super Bowl Championship in mind (via Michael Silver of NFL.com):

"“The directive I get from my owner (Jim Irsay) — and all of the motivation driving my decisions — is to win it all,” Grigson said. “He wants to win the Super Bowl, and that is my mission. That’s why I’ll keep searching for players, whether it’s a big-name free agent or a guy from the CFL or some small college. I’ll be looking under every rock, and trying to find a way to make us better.”“And maybe you try that much harder when you still have that 45-7 taste in your mouth,” Grigson added."

While such signings won’t guarantee anything, the Colts project to have a much better roster than last season, when they suffered an embarrassing blowout loss to the New England Patriots in this past year’s AFC Championship game. The team has added proven marquee veterans in Andre Johnson, Frank Gore, and Trent Cole, who desperately want to win and know how to properly conduct themselves both on and off the field:

"“Trent, Gore, Johnson — they know that mindset,” said Grigson. “They know that window’s closing for them, and they’re not gonna put up with much BS from young guys who don’t quite get it. And they’ll bring a vibe that permeates through every orifice of our organization: ‘We’re going to the mountaintop, and if you don’t get on board, you’re gonna get left behind.’ “"

With that in mind, Grigson has shifted his mindset from simply stockpiling young talent to looking to add winning veterans to his roster:

"“I didn’t want anyone over 28,” Grigson said. “And then last year, I told (safety) Mike Adams, who was playing well for us, ‘You know what? We might need to start signing everybody who’s over 33.’ I kinda got worn down by some of the youth — some of the knuckleheads who weren’t all in, who don’t make the commitment. You get tired of it. Those are the guys who are gonna bring the team down. We’ve had guys we’ve had to get rid of, because they weren’t with the program. You know that saying, ‘People fire themselves’? It’s the same thing with football teams.”"

To his credit, whatever veteran free agents he’s brought in to visit Indianapolis, haven’t really left without inking a contract. In that regard, Grigson has been “the closer” for the Colts. One has to look no further than his ability to get a deal done with Trent Cole before he could leave the team’s complex:

"“So I grabbed him. I told a couple of guys not to let him leave the building,” Grigson said. “I called his agent back and we closed the deal. It’s not time to play hardball when you have a pass rusher walking out your door — let alone when it’s ‘The Hunter.’ I just wasn’t letting him leave, no matter what. And we go from one minute of despair and potential loss to closing the deal, and everyone’s hugging, including you and the player.”"

Just like the New England Patriots, “The Hunter” in Trent Cole had seemingly become the hunted by Grigson and his staff. Except unlike the former, Cole will gladly join forces with Grigson in the hopes of beating the New England Patriots for an elusive Super Bowl Championship.