Colts' Ryan Grigson ranked as the tenth-best general manager in the NFL

After every NFL season, Sporting News hands out their annual Executive of the Year award.  Colts general manager Ryan Grigson won the award in his first season with the team, as his moves in 2012 helped turn around the franchise and set the groundwork for the future.  Since then, however, Grigson has found a tougher time in improving upon that foundation for the team.  So where does Sporting News rank the Colts' GM now entering the 2015 season, his fourth season with the team?

According to Sporting News' David Steele, who ranked all 32 general managers in the league, Grigson comes in at number ten:

Grigson has brought the Colts along ahead of schedule, and raised expectations quickly.  Entering Year 4 of the Chuck Pagano-Andrew Luck era, they're looking to make that leap - a huge one - past the Patriots.  He's committed to the present (Andre Johnson, Frank Gore) and future (T.Y. Hilton's contract).  Pagano, though, is in contract limbo, undeservedly so.

Ahead of Grigson on the list are Seattle's John Schneider, Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, Green Bay's Ted Thompson, Arizona's Steve Keim, Denver's John Elway, New England's Bill Belichick, Pittsburgh's Kevin Colbert, New Orleans' Micky Loomis, and Dallas' Jerry Jones.

The opinions on Ryan Grigson vary considerably, but I think this ranking is pretty close to being accurate for the Colts' GM.  He's still riding a lot on the success of his 2012 class, one in which he brought in Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, Dwayne Allen, and Coby Fleener, among others.  His 2013 moves haven't panned out nearly as well, including first round pick Bjoern Werner and free agent signings like LaRon Landry - and that's not even mentioning the in-season trade for Trent Richardson.  He recovered by having a solid 2014 season, but the jury is still out on Grigson.  On the one hand, he has been behind the turnaround from worst in the league to a team competing for a Super Bowl.  On the other hand, however, a huge part of that success is due to Andrew Luck, his first pick.  Has Grigson done a good enough job of surrounding the Colts with enough talent around Luck to win it all, particularly on the defensive side of the football?  That's the big question right now.

Ultimately, Grigson probably is somewhere around that number 10 ranking, so I think this is pretty accurate.  He's not among the best in the league, but when looking at some of the other GMs running other teams, it's clear that he's not among the worst in the league either.  He's somewhere in the middle - but without a doubt, 2015 will be a huge season for Ryan Grigson.