Ryan Grigson is likely the one internal candidate that most Minnesota Vikings fans would hate to see become the team's new general manager.
Despite this, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer recently shared that he believes Grigson, who is currently one of two Vikings assistant general managers, is among the names to watch in Minnesota's search for a new general manager.
"Ryan Grigson's done a really nice job [in Minnesota]. He's got the respect of the people in the building. He's very close to the defensive coordinator, Brian Flores.
I'm not sure how [Grigson as GM] would work with [Rob Brzezinski] if he wants the job. Does Brzezinski get the first crack at it over Grigson based on his tenure there?
It'd be interesting to watch, but Ryan Grigson is another interesting name."
Minnesota Vikings hiring Ryan Grigson as new GM would be a colossal mistake
Grigson has been in the Vikings' front office since 2022, when he joined the organization as the team's Senior vice president of player personnel under former Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
With Adofo-Mensah having more of an analytical background, most assumed he added Grigson to the staff to help make up for his lack of experience when it came to scouting players.
It was a head-scratching hire at the time, given how badly Grigson failed when he was the general manager of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 to 2016. But some were willing to give it a chance since he wasn't going to be making any of Minnesota's final roster decisions.
Now that Adofo-Mensah is out of the picture, Breer believes Grigson could potentially be the one to fill the void. That would be a terrifying decision for the Vikings to make.
During his first year as the Colts' general manager, he was literally handed a franchise quarterback in the form of Andrew Luck after Indianapolis selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Despite the golden ticket Grigson was gifted, he was never able to build a good enough offensive line to keep Luck's back off the turf, and ultimately, the pounding Luck took week after week after week led to him retiring from the NFL in 2019 after only spending seven years in the league.
Indianapolis made the playoffs in 2012, 2013, and 2014 with Grigson as the team's general manager, but after the Colts missed the postseason in 2015 and 2016, he was relieved of his duties with the franchise.
After his time with Indianapolis came to an end, he had brief stints in the front offices of the Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks before landing with Minnesota in 2022.
If Grigson has a desire to be a general manager in the NFL again, that's completely fine. But the Vikings should let him go make that attempt somewhere else.
Grigson's struggles in Indianapolis, especially when it came to protecting a once-in-a-generation quarterback, pose too great a risk for a Minnesota team that's in desperate need of someone who can help fix an unstable signal-caller situation.
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