Ryan Grigson spent several years in the National Football League. He started out as a player when he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1995 draft as a tight end and offensive tackle. Unfortunately, his career was cut short due to a back injury. Due to his love for the game, he decided to do other things related to football. He became a coach for a couple of college teams and he did a great job encouraging young players to do their best. Of course, he wouldn’t want kids to end up like he did. He would want nothing more than for them to live up their dream of becoming a professional football player. He also became a scout for the Rams and the Eagles. Let’s take a look back at the amazing career of this extraordinary talent. If his career didn’t get cut short due to injury, there’s no doubt he would be living his dreams as one of the sport’s best players that ever played it.
Back in college, Grigson played for the Purdue Boilermakers. Unfortunately, he sustained an abdomen injury that forced him to sit out an entire season. Everyone thought his football career was over until he returned the next year and became one of the 3 captains of the team. There’s no doubt this is a clear case where if you want something so bad, you have to work very hard for it. It didn’t take long for college scouts to recognize his talent as he was selected in the sixth round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Bengals. In what turned out to be faith, he ended up playing for the Detroit Lions. After a year, he moved to Canada where he played professionally but a career-ending injury ended his playing career.
Grigson found out he was better suited as a talent scout. He worked as a scout for the championship team of St. Louis Rams in 1999 and 2001. During his tenure, he was able to bring players who made an impact to the Rams. No question, he was a huge part of the team’s success moving forward. In his longest tenure, he was the General Manager for the Indianapolis Colts for 3 years. He drafted excellent players and led the team to a win over the Denver Broncos to qualify for the AFC Championship game. He did such a good job that the Colts decided to extend his contract through 2019. One of the moves that Grigson was known for was landing Trent Richardson for their first round draft pick. Some say it worked while other say it didn’t because the Colts failed to make the playoffs for two straight seasons which hasn’t happened in a while. Of course, that can’t be blamed on Grigson. His undying love for the sport prompted him to find new ways to make the team better. It will be a long time before there will be another person like Ryan Grigson. He is a man who’s committed to whatever job given to him.