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Colts Ryan Grigson: ‘You’ve Got to Make Yourself Relevant’

By Luke Schultheis

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According to Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson, this Saturday night’s preseason game against the St. Louis Rams is pivotal in his player evaluation of the team’s current 90-man active roster, which will be eventually trimmed to just 53 active players:

"“I think we welcome this game because I think it goes a long way in the evaluation process,” Grigson told longtime Colts play-by-play announcer Bob Lamey on Friday. “It’s going to help us really see where we’re at with a lot of different areas in terms of execution and depth,” added Grigson. “A lot of different things we’re going to be able to study coming off this game and being on the road too.”"

One way that any young player can do is to make himself relevant. By conducting yourself in a professional manner and by allowing your production to speak plainly for itself, a player can make a strong impression on coaches and management to the point where the latter believes they simply can’t afford to let him go:

"“Like coach says, you’ve got to make yourself relevant, and I think that goes without saying,” noted Grigson. “Not many positions are set, there’s a few that are, but not many are and you got put that question in our minds and make us really look at things to find out who is going to help us get where we want to go.”“Who has put together the best body of work to this point, and we have two more games,” said Grigson. “This game obviously weighs heavy on that and that process, so we’ll watch the film after this game and see what the naked eye shows you right off the bat, but it always goes back to the film and we’ll meet start heading into that direction before the fourth game.”"

When asked specifically what his team can improve on, Grigson said there’s always areas that can be improved on, even upgrading the talent level of the 90 man offseason roster in general:

"“Well, there’s always areas that you think you can be stronger in no matter how good you are I think whatever team I’ve been with,” Grigson responded to Lamey. “Because there are injuries. There are guys that have certain setbacks. Maybe even mental setbacks.”“So you’re always looking to improve, even the 90 (man offseason roster). So not even talking the 53 (active player roster),” added Grigson. “The 90, you’re always churning that bottom of the roster to try to get better everyday, so I think this game will hopefully show and shed some more light on a lot of the decisions we’ll have to make. They’re going to be tough ones.”"

On what he’s hoping to see from his players, particularly from the ones that are fighting for a roster spot lower on the depth chart at their respective position groups, Grigson replied:

"“I think you hope to see them project a mindset, and just how they come into this game and how they finish it,” answered Grigson. “From the beginning of their first play to their last play. Limit their mistakes, play disciplined football, and produce…and make it to where you feel good about that person and that position group heading into the regular season.”"

However, if it doesn’t work out, telling a young player, “They’re not good enough”, is never an easy task. It’s definitely something that Grigson doesn’t look forward, but is the nature of a the business–a very difficult decision at that:

"“You know I think sometimes we don’t give these guys enough credit,” said Grigson. “I mean they’re professionals, they understand the business. You know they’re grown men. You know they can handle disappointment. These guys have had far greater worse things happen to them in their lives than me telling them, ‘You’re not going to be an Indianapolis Colt’.”“Yes, it tough, and it’s not the greatest conversations in the world, but it’s part of the business and I think the best thing I can do as a general manager and Chuck (Pagano) can do as a head coach, when we have those conversations, is to be brutally honest so at their next stop they know what to work on,” concluded Grigson."

For some players fighting for a roster spot, playing well in Saturday’s game would go a long way towards assuring that they do not have to have that difficult conversation with Grigson and Pagano at September’s start.

It starts Saturday by making themselves relevant.

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