According to The MMQB’s Albert Breer, the Indianapolis Colts front office overhaul has continued, as the team has parted ways with former Vice President of Football Operations Jimmy Raye III:
Per sources, the Colts have let VP of football operations Jimmy Raye III go as GM Chris Ballard restructures the team's scouting department.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 1, 2017
Raye was a serious candidate for Colts GM job, interviewed with 49ers. This was amicable as it could be. Ballard going with his own guys.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 1, 2017
While it was reported that the team dismissed their Director of College Scouting, T.J. McCreight, and other members of the scouting department on Sunday, Raye’s name was not mentioned in the initial report.
However, now, he’s the biggest name of them all.
The 48 year old executive had spent the past four seasons as Vice President of Football Operations with the Colts and was interviewed as an in-house candidate for the team’s general manager opening before Chris Ballard was ultimately hired.
He also interviewed for the San Francisco 49ers once vacant general manager position earlier this offseason before John Lynch was named as their new general manager.
Raye formerly served as a San Diego Chargers Scout (1996-99), Director of College Scouting (2000-07), and later their Director of Player Personnel (2008-12) before joining the Colts as their Vice President of Football Operations in 2013.
It’s been widely reported that Raye is highly regarded throughout league circles, so I’d expect him to land on his feet and find at least a similar front office position rather quickly.
For Ballard, Raye’s dismissal could be a precursor to the new Colts general manager bringing in his close friend and mutually respected talent evaluator, Ed Dodds, over from the Seattle Seahawks as his new Vice President of Football Operations (who is currently the Seahawks Senior Personnel Executive).
With a fresh ‘draft cycle’ beginning, it makes sense that Ballard will now look to bring in his ‘own guys’ as far as his scouting department is concerned. Teams don’t typically like to make scouting department changes in-season because much of the ‘heavy lifting’ has already been done, and fired scouts could take their scouting reports and information elsewhere.
Now, Ballard can perform a makeover on his scouting department the way he deems appropriate with the personnel he believes are necessary to achieve greater success for the Colts going forward.