Minnesota Vikings executive Ryan Grigson remains with the organization, and there is a likely reason why
The Minnesota Vikings’ fanbase is not happy about Ryan Grigson still being with the organization, and the answer feels rather simple.
Now that the Minnesota Vikings are done with mandatory minicamp, there will be a 5-6 week dead period. We can use that time to deep dive where things are at, and one of those is the front office.
New general manager Nolan Teasley moved on from four personnel executives, with assistant general manager Demitrius Washington requesting to pursue other opportunities and the other three being let go. Not included in that group is assistant general manager Ryan Grigson.
History of Ryan Grigson
- Grigson got his start playing in the NFL before joining the personnel side in the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League before joining the St. Louis Rams as a scout for five seasons.
- Before he became the general manager for the Indianapolis Colts in 2012, Grigson spent eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, finishing as hte director of player personnel.
- Grigson spent five seasons as the general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, and was let go after the 2016 season. He spent time with multiple organizations after that stint, including with the Cleveland Browns.
Why Ryan Grigson is still in Minnesota
If you look at X/Twitter, you’ll see a lot of frustration about Grigson still being with the organization, as they often blame him for the lack of success in the NFL Draft. That in itself isn’t exactly fair, because he wasn’t the key decision maker. We do know he had a major hand in the selection of guard Ed Ingram and the signing of defensive tackle Jalen Redmond. Outside of that, little is publicly known about his responsibilities.
One thing we have heard is that Grigson has the respect of those in the building. “I also think that the Vice President of Player Personnel, Ryan Grigson, has done a really nice job,” said Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer in May. “He’s got the respect of the people in the building. He’s very close to the defensive coordinator, Brian Flores.”
That matters a big deal when it comes to this conversation. If you have the respect of those in the building, that likely comes with a belief you are good at your job. He also worked with Teasley for two seasons in Seattle with the Seahawks, so there is a working relationship there.
There is one more element of wanting Grigson gone: how do you know what he did or didn’t do? I addressed that on The Real Forno Show.
“If you want Gregson gone, I’m not going to fight you on it, but I’m just going to challenge you to give real evidence why he should be gone, other than, ‘oh, those drafts are bad, he didn’t make those picks.’ So, how do you know what influence he had on each selection? For all you know, he could have been against every one of those picks.”
It’s not a simple question to answer why Grigson is still in Minnesota, and that’s mainly due to a lack of information on how much he was involved with. Yes, the drafts were far from ideal, and at times, bad. However, the organization was still 43-25 and were excellent on the pro personnel side.
The counter to the entire discussion is easy: find evidence that Grigson did poorly with his responsibilities. Right now, we just have how former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s NFL Draft decisions were bad. Honestly, that’s not good enough.
Grigson has also been very honest about his time with the Colts and should be given some grace that he learned how to be better at his job since then. It’s not the end of the world that he’s still with Minnesota and, for all we know, they are better having him in the building.
At the very least, Teasley can learn from Grigson’s failures.