Ryan Grigson is out as the Colts’ general manager. He’s been fired, and Jim Irsay will hold a press conference shortly regarding that.
There’s been no word on the fate of head coach Chuck Pagano yet, though hopefully Irsay’s press conference will help shed some light on that. The early indications are that Pagano’s job is safe for the time being, but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way.
Sporting News’ Alex Marvez shared this interesting detail this afternoon on Twitter: Jim Irsay has put a freeze on new assistant coach hires.
I reported Chuck Pagano safe as @Colts HC few weeks back. Sill may be. But word going round is that Jim Irsay put freeze on asst coach hires
— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) January 21, 2017
What does that mean? Well, I can tell you what it strongly implies: that Pagano’s job isn’t safe yet. If Irsay doesn’t want Pagano hiring new assistant coaches yet, it must mean that Pagano’s job isn’t safe yet. So if this report is true, it would seem to confirm that Pagano’s fate is still up in the air.
And honestly, that’s the most logical expectation right now too. With Grigson fired, that means the Colts will have someone new running the show. Whether that’s Peyton Manning as the president of football operations, a new general manager, or both, there will be someone new brought in. So with a new guy coming in to lead things, it would make sense for that new guy to be given the final say on Pagano’s future with the team. This wouldn’t be the first time that Jim Irsay has done something like that, either, as in 2012 he let the new general manager - Ryan Grigson - make the call on head coach Jim Caldwell after Irsay had fired Bill Polian.
So my expectation is that the new guy in charge will have the final say on Pagano (which doesn’t mean that Pagano is neccessarily gone, but it would be likely), and Marvez’s report that Irsay has put a freeze on assistant coach hires would seem to corroborate that. Hopefully we’ll find out more from Irsay soon, so stay tuned.