DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns hire Ryan Grigson as Senior Personnel Executive

I think, above all, this is the biggest issue. Not so much with players, but with staff on the personnel side. The guy has been a GM...does that mindset possibly create a rift in the building not being the head guy anymore? We'll see.

Still, it should be pointed out that Berry came from Indy so I'm guessing the hire was his decision and he knows Grigson, like all hires should be with people reporting to him.

j/c

I went on record as bashing the guy as being an a-hole, and a poor talent evaluator. I still believe he may be an a-hole, and his stint as GM was awful, but, perhaps he is a good scout, and possibly a good hire for the scouting department. I thought this article was very interesting:

Inside the Huddle With the Guys Who ‘Grind and Find’

by Peter King

How does a team’s scouting department prepare for the most critical part of their year? We went behind the scenes with the Colts’ scouting staff as their talent evaluators got ready for a fall of finding future NFLers

ANDERSON, Ind. — “In the NFL,” Indianapolis general manager Ryan Grigson said from the front of the room to 23 members of the Colts’ scouting team this summer, “we’re the most underappreciated area that means the most. We’re a brotherhood that no one knows. But that’s okay. Every day we’re living the dream. We’re here to build the best scouting staff in the league. We’re going to outscout the league. So let’s get going.”

* * *

In training camp, Indianapolis Colts GM Ryan Grigson pulled back the curtain on one of more private parts of the NFL business: a meeting between the general manager and his 23-member pro and college scouting staff. Nothing was off limits. In a conference room at Anderson University in Indiana, Grigson, as he has done since becoming GM in 2012, had a staff development night. An informal get-together, with pizza and beer and, Grigson hoped, free-flowing football thoughts. It’s one of three times during the year (December scouting meetings and April draft meetings being the others) when the group is together. Tonight, one member of the scouting staff, regional scout Ahmad Russell, would have 30 minutes to make a professional-enhancement presentation to the group; as it turned out, Russell would make a startling revelation to his peers.
Four hours and 22 minutes later, the meeting was adjourned.

* * *

It was just after 7 on a summer night. After a welcome preamble, Ryan Grigson looked around the room, which was set up as a large table on this college campus an hour northeast of Indianapolis. To his right: his chief lieutenant, Jimmy Raye III, and director of college scouting T.J. McCreight, and senior scouts Dave Razzano and Todd Vasvari, and analytics expert John Park. Across from him: [censored].

* * *

When he got the floor back, Grigson said: “Thanks Ahmad. You made our bond stronger in this room.”

Grigson went on. “I applaud Ahmad. That was humility at its finest. I love his message, so much about it, because what Ahmad touches is what we’ve all been through. It’s like what Chuck [Pagano, the head coach who overcame leukemia in 2012 to return to coaching] has taught us: No day is guaranteed. Nothing is guaranteed in this game. A couple years ago, we’re in the AFC title game and we think the next step is the Super Bowl. And then Luck breaks down and Hasselbeck breaks down and we’re playing games we gotta win with the friggin’ Brooklyn Bolts quarterback from Coney Island! But we don’t give up! That’s the spirit of our coach! That’s the sprit of the Colts!”

Translation: After the Colts’ two quarterbacks, Andrew Luck and Matt Hasselbeck, got hurt last year, Grigson signed Charlie Whitehurst, semi-pro quarterback Josh Freeman of the Brooklyn Bolts, and Ryan Lindley. The trio played the last six quarters of the seasons—and the Colts won both of the last two games.

What Grigson stressed with his scouts, in one of their last sessions together before they hit the road for the season, was the bottom of the roster. “Grind and find,” he said. “Why do the Packers and the Ravens and the Seahawks do it right more often than not? Continuity. Passion to pick the right guys, no matter where they are. It doesn’t matter if you’re at Pikeville or Alabama. Throw caution to the wind! You see a guy at a small place, text me! Get him on our radar! Those can be the difference-makers!

“That back end of the roster ends up being our front end by Week 6. Every week you see that in this league. Look at us last year. We spent a season in the valley, and we did not fold. We beat the world champs! With a sub coordinator calling the old coordinator’s plays! The quarterback’s got a lacerated kidney! The whole world says there’s no way we’re beating Denver. But you guys got the players, Chuck and his staff coached ‘em, and we responded. There’s a lesson there: Be at your best when it’s the darkest. That’s when we need your best work.”

(In Week 10 last year, the 3-5 Colts, after firing offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, beat the Broncos, who went on to win the Super Bowl.)

Grigson spent a good chunk of time, maybe 40 minutes, on road life. Some of the guys in this room will be away from home 150 days a year. “Guys, I’ve stayed at the McIntosh Inns out there,” Grigson said. “I’ve been at BC and stayed at the Econolodge with the lock on the phone. No matter where you are, get your reports in on time. I got used to finishing mine every night. Then you start fresh next day.” A few other Grigsonisms that stood out:

• “Be careful when you hate a rookie. Give ‘em all a chance. Watch ‘em. Keep watching ‘em.”
• “On the road, text me? I’m there. Call me? You got no shot.”
• “I love the buzz guys. I eat up the buzz guys. Text me. Get me interested.”
• “Get zen on your position groups. Know ‘em cold.”
• “On the road, look sharp. Be punctual. Be courteous. Be consistent. Be well-dressed. Answer the bell every day.”
• “Do not be hyper-focused on special teams. But everyone have a Bill Bates [referring to the undrafted safety-special teamer who carved out a 15-year career with the Cowboys]. Who’s your Bill Bates this year out there? Find him. Text me about him. You know that’s the quickest way onto this team.”
• “Watch the preseason tape. We’re gonna have to find people at the cutdown. Look for safeties, tight ends, wide receivers, corners. We can use a good corner. And we’ll listen when people call. We got a sixth-round pick for [cornerback] Marcus Burley! We’ll take that.”
• “So we got Andrew signed long-term now. Now we gotta kill the draft. The draft for us is do or die. Forget the lure of free agency.”
• “You know what I love about our group? No Debbie Downers in here.”
“Let’s talk about today,” Grigson said near the end of the night. “Who’d you like out there? How’s the offensive line? Somebody tell me about LeRaven.”
Third-round pick LeRaven Clark had looked in camp—and he was at a big need position, offensive tackle. Young Matt Terpening piped up. “He jumped out on pass pro,” Terpening said. “Good athleticism. Fits well.”
“We need him,” Grigson said. “We gotta hit on all our guys. That’s the attitude we all gotta have.”

* * *

It’s 11:26 p.m. No one has left the room. Pizza gone. Much of the beer still on ice; it seems a fairly teetotaling group. But the 7 a.m. breakfast, and morning tape study, looms.

Last lesson:

“You make your bones in this league by wakin’ up and making a decision—every day,” Grigson said. “Go make some great ones.”

Link

Seems like a team guy with a passion for scouting. Maybe he's not such a bad hire. We'll see.

I said it somewhere before, but my hope is that he is very good at 1-2 specific things ... but was an awful GM.

So now we're having him just focus on those 1-2 specialties

ABOUT RYAN GRIGSON

The Browns have not hired Ryan Grigson to be general manager. That's Sashi Brown, who runs the football operation.

Nor is Grigson the player personnel director. That's Andrew Berry.

A former Indianapolis Colts general manager (2012-16), Grigson was named senior personnel executive.

I asked around about what Grigson will do. He is under Brown and Berry. In fact, Grigson used to be Berry's boss with the Colts.

Grigson had a spotty record as a Colts general manager. He made the disastrous Trent Richardson deal with Joe Banner in 2013. Unfortunately, that 2014 first-rounder was used in the Johnny Manziel deal.

Banner was gone by the 2014 draft. Richardson and Manziel are out of the NFL. That trade hurt Grigson's reputation.

The Browns plan to use Grigson almost like a super scout. He will look at pro and college players. He will even visit some colleges to research prospects. He spent his first 14 years in the NFL as a scout, and the Browns believe that is his strength.

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2017/05/cleveland_browns_have_terry_ta_120.html

So we're having a guy who thought Trent Richardson was worth a first round draft pick evaluating talent?

Greaaat......

Yep that's the only scouting decision he has ever made

As obvious as it is I hadn't thought of that.

Our GM was wrong and laughed their asses off he turned around and gave us a 1st round pick after having NFL film on this guy.

I know you've heard this before but it's appropriate in this situation....

Two wrongs don't make a right.

But 3 lefts do

well dang, a Relient k reference.

The Christian Band ?

lol that wasn't even the worse thing he did... He put a terrible O line together that damn near killed Andrew.. On top of that when Andrew had a banged up shoulder and should have been sat.. He wanted him playing... Chuck and Ryan constantly were banging heads..

The Colts actually had a good draft this past draft.

Yeah, one of their albums was named, "Two Lefts Don't Make A Right But Three Do"

They named the band after the beat-up car they were driving at the time.

Just throwing this out there....Jim Irsey was on quaaludes when that trade was made. Maybe he made the call? It's a long shot but he comes across as that owner that will trump his GM.

My greater concern still is along the lines of his draft history. Outside his one phenomenal year in 2012, I don't think he had that great of a run. I think that spells more concern than player trades now that he is here in Cleveland, where he'll have next to zero control over that.

By all accounts he was a tremendous scout and that's why he was elevated to GM but he wasn't a good GM. as our top scout, I don't have any issue with it. Phil Savage was an excellent scout but just wasn't a good decision maker as GM. let the guy do what he is good at.

+1

Agreed. Let's give the man a chance before we condemn; please. He seems well qualified to do what the Browns hired him to do.

People are allowed to have an immediate opinion on things. They are also allowed to change their opinion if Grigson does well.

That is how I look at it, and we should. You can't focus on the job he did as a GM. He isn't doing that for us.

He had to do something good in Indy before he was hired as GM. That's the guy we hired.