Colts Hire New Team President and Other Rumblings

            The Indianapolis Colts have found a replacement for former team manager, Bill Polian. It was announced earlier this week that Indiana-native Ryan Grigson would become Jim Irsay’s right-hand man. Grigson has been in the NFL for 14 years, and his previous position was Director of Player Personal for the Philadelphia Eagles. Grigson, 39, attended Purdue University and played offensive tackle and tight end for the team.

            While at Philadelphia, the Eagles went 72-52 and made it to the playoffs five times and won the NFC Championship three times. During his tenure, the Eagles drafted: WR DeSean Jackson, RB LeSean McCoy, WR Jeremy Maclin, TE Brent Celek, QB Kevin Kolb, and DT Trevor Laws. Jackson is one of the best offensive weapons in the NFL and McCoy is one of the top running backs. The Eagles also acquired Michael Vick. The moral of all that is Grigson seems to have an eye for talented players, something that Polian seemed to lose over the past couple of drafts.

           

            Last week, “sources” informed an ESPN reporter that Colts owner Jim Irsay was going to select Andrew Luck in the 2012 Draft. A few hours later, Irsay insisted that those rumors were false and that he had never said such a thing.

            Another rumor has said the Colts may trade the number one pick to the Cleveland Browns. This would be incredibly smart, in my opinion. The Browns have the number four and twenty-second pick in the first round of the 2012 Draft. The Colts could trade the number one pick for quarterback Colt McCoy and the Browns fourth and twenty-second overall picks.

            With the fourth pick they take Alabama running back Trent Richardson and with the 22^nd pick they take a wide receiver or a linebacker. Colt McCoy would become the pupil of Manning, and Richardson would give the Colts an elite running back and possible take some pressure off of Manning and the passing game.

UPDATE: For crying out loud. That wonderful plan I just thought of has gone right out the window. The St. Louis Rams traded their number two pick to the Browns for the fourth and twenty-second pick. What do the Colts do now? Only time will tell.

            While we’re on football, how about taking a look at the NFL Playoffs? Last week, the Broncos, Texans, Saints, and Giants all won their games and moved on to the Division Round. This sets up four games all between division leaders. On Saturday, the #3 New Orleans Saints travel to take on the #2 San Francisco 49ers and then the #4 Denver Broncos face the #1 New England Patriots. On Sunday, #3 Houston Texans play the #2 Baltimore Ravens and the #4 New York Giants go up against the #1 Green Bay Packers.

            If you live in Indianapolis, as I do, you want to be rooting for teams that are going to make for a great matchup for Super Bowl XLVI. You also want to be rooting for teams that have huge fan bases that will spend money. In the NFC, the only team I don’t want in Indy is the 49ers, and that’s because their fans live all the way in California. Plus, their fans aren’t going to want to spend 1-2 weeks in snowy Indianapolis. In the AFC, I really don’t want to spend Super Bowl Week with Patriots fans. Ravens’ fans seem to despise the Indianapolis Colts, so I don’t really want them here either. That leaves the Broncos and Texans to cheer for.