Report: Ryan Grigson's job status with the Colts in doubt

The 2015 season has certainly been an interesting one so far for the Colts, and we're only six games into it.  They started 0-2, mounted a double-digit comeback for their first win, lost Andrew Luck for two games and won without him, and then played the Patriots tough for part of the game before losing by one score (along with that fake punt fiasco).  That's all on the field.  Off of the field, the talk is swirling about the status of head coach Chuck Pagano.  It's widely known that there are issues between Pagano and general manager Ryan Grigson, and at this point it seems like there's a real chance that Pagano could be gone after the season.

If you've kept up with what we've been saying at Stampede Blue, however, you'll know that we think Grigson is more at fault than Pagano and that, if Pagano is feeling the hot seat, then Grigson should be as well.  Bleacher Report's Jason Cole recently said that Grigson's job status is indeed now in question and that he could either be fired at season's end or see his role reduced.  Here's what Cole said:

"As the Indianapolis Colts continue to muddle through a 3-3 season and fail to get any consistency going, one of the considerations is not only whether head coach Chuck Pagano is going to lose his job at the end of the season, but now whether general manager Ryan Grigson will join him as being unemployed or in a reduced role, depending on what owner Jim Irsay wants to do at the end of the season.  The criticism of Grigson has primarily been about player acquisition.  The trade for Trent Richardson has been a failure, the drafting of first round pick Bjoern Werner has been a failure at this point in time, and that all reflects on Grigson.  In addition, there has been talk throughout the organization about the interference of Grigson with the day to day football matters and the coaching staff and that's created dissention between him and Pagano.  Now, if Irsay decides to go with a high end coach, say somebody like Nick Saban or perhaps Sean Payton to succeed Pagano,  the question then becomes whether Grigson gets pushed out of the building altogether or pushed aside in a reduced role allowing those coaches to take control of personnel matters."

All this is at this point is a report acknowledging that Ryan Grigson's job is not safe either, but that is still noteworthy.  So far, the talk has almost exclusively centered around Chuck Pagano and his job status, but we haven't heard much of anything about Grigson's job status.  We had inferred that Grigson wasn't completely safe when reports emerged suggesting that Jim Irsay could make a big-name head coaching hire or that the Colts might inquire about Sean Payton, as those big-name coaches likely wouldn't want to come work under Grigson (who has overstepped his role and is involved with duties commonly left to coaches).  So if one of those prominent coaches was the target, it doesn't seem possible for Grigson to stay around.

That is, unless his role is very much reduced, as Jason Cole suggests is an option.  At that point, though, what's the point of keeping Grigson around?  In all, I wouldn't put a ton into this report yet other than to note that it is starting to sound like Ryan Grigson's job isn't safe either, which is the way it should be.  In my opinion, if Chuck Pagano is gone after the season, then Ryan Grigson should be too.  I think this team's issues go beyond coaching and are more about talent (and don't use just one play, the fake punt, to argue against that claim), which would fall squarely on Grigson's shoulders.   I wrote a few weeks ago that Grigson shouldn't feel too safe about his job status, and it sounds like that is indeed the case.