The Cleveland Browns Senior Personnel Executive, Ryan Grigson served the Indianapolis Colts as the General Manager from 2012 to 2016.
Early life
Ryan was born on 23rd February 1972 in the locality of Highland in Indiana. He was the child of Juanita and Jeff Grigson, went to Our Lady of Grace Catholic School and finished his higher education at Highland Senior High. He was a football player in high school but his college injury refrained him from playing football for a year. He returned back in 1993 and showcased his footballing skills.
Professional Football career
In 1995, Ryan was drafted to be in the Cincinnati Bengals in the 6th round and was bound under a contract – but was released in the final cuts. He was then signed by the rival team Detroit Lions and played the NFL 1995 season with that team. He was released from the Detroit Lions team in 1996 and then went on to play for Toronto Argonauts in 1997. But following that year Ryan got a major injury, which never allowed him to play again, thus, retiring very early.
Executive and Manager Career
In 1998 after his retirement, he started as pro Scout for Saskatchewan Roughriders and served as assistant coach for McPherson College. Ryan had been part of St Louis Rams as the national scout in NFL in the year 1999. He then joined Philadelphia Eagles in 2004 as the Western Regional Scout. After serving for two years as Western Regional Scout, Ryan was promoted to be the Director of College Scouting and then as Director of Player Personnel in the year 2010.
In the year 2012, Ryan was signed by Indianapolis Colts as the General Manager and this helped their team to improve and win several matches. Because of his guidance and mentorship, the team played really well and he went on to win Executive of the year award and Mental Toughness Award. The Colts under Ryan’s mentorship even made an NFL record of having a longest winning streak against any division after having their 16th consecutive win over the AFC South opponent. In 2016, Colts announced the contract renewal of Ryan with them till 2019.
But due to not able to pick good drafts and other concerns, in the year 2017, Ryan was released from Indianapolis Colts. He was then signed with Cleveland Browns as their Senior Personnel Executive. He replaced Lake Dawson who joined Buffalo bills serving as the assistant director of college scouting.
Personal Life
Ryan is a happily married man to his beloved wife Cynthia. They were college sweethearts and met while studying at Pardue University. After dating for several years, they finally got hitched in 2001 and are blessed with 6 children. Ryan is a firm believer in Catholic. He loves all his children and love to spend time with his family. After his father’s death, he understood the responsibilities of a father and wants to imbibe good things in his children too, which his father did.
Conclusion
Ryan was a great footballer but due to his career-ending injury, he had to retire. His executive and manager career has several ups and downs but still, he managed to provide wins in whichever teams he had been attached to.
