Colts’ Jimmy Raye out of the running for 49ers’ GM opening

Earlier this month the San Francisco 49ers interviewed Jimmy Raye III, the Colts’ vice president of football operations, for their general manager opening. But it looks like Raye will be sticking with the Colts despite the interest from San Francisco.

The Sacramento Bee’s Matt Barrows and CSN’s Matt Maiocco both reported today that Raye was told by the 49ers that he will not get a second interview, while the 49ers announced that they “paired down” their list of GM candidates and thanked those who wouldn’t be getting a second interview. That means that those guys are out of the running, and so since Jimmy Raye is in that group, then he’s out of the running for the job.

That means he’ll stick around with the Colts for another year despite the interest. The 49ers weren’t the first team to have interest in him during his time with the Colts, as last year the Titans were interested before ultimately going with Jon Robinson. Before that, Raye drew interest from the Chicago Bears while with the Chargers and then ultimately was a candidate for the Chargers’ GM opening, which went to Tom Telesco. And even before that, Raye had been a name to keep an eye on for GM openings around the league. Raye is a respected guy who’s been with the Colts for the past four years after he was hired to replace Telesco after the 2012 season.

Raye is Ryan Grigson’s right hand man in Indianapolis, and he helps in a variety of areas of roster construction. One of the things he’s particularly involved in, however, is the draft process, scouting, and the undrafted free agent signings. Grigson speaks very highly of Raye as a guy who’s not just a “yes man” but who is willing to tell him the truth.

The indications seem to be that the Colts are keeping things the same for the 2017 season when it comes to the GM and head coach positions, and Grigson should have his right hand man back in 2017 as well since Jimmy Raye is out of the running for the 49ers’ GM opening.