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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Colts Hire Ryan Grigson; Rams Still Looking For A GM - Turf Show Times

Ryan Grigson's first big move as GM in Indianapolis, drafting Andrew Luck.

Cross one off the list. The Indianapolis Colts will hire Philadelphia Driector of Player Personnel Tom Grigson as their next general manager, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. The St. Louis Rams interviewed Grigson on Monday for their GM opening, the first candidate to interview with the team.

Grigson appealed to the Rams for his reputation for getting along with almost anyone. He's smart and willing to look anywhere for talent, the CFL and AFL included. You can see that in the Eagles' relative success with later round picks. He's also a guy that worked his way from the very bottom rungs of the scouting department, something that will be a big change in Indy after Chris Polian.

The Rams continue the search. More about their other interviewees after the jump.

Star-divide

The Rams interviewed two more GM candidates this week, after Grigson. Lake Dawson, Titans' Vice President of Football Operations, interviewed with the Rams on Tuesday. In Tennessee, Dawson was primarily responsible for veteran talent, free agents and the like. He gets some credit for pulling Matt Hasselbeck off the scrap heap this year to transition the franchise after the Vince Young fiasco. Hasselbeck was good enough as the Titans' starter to help them get to a 9-7 finish, even when Chris Johnson was MIA early in the season.

Les Snead, Atlanta's Director of Player Personnel, was also at Rams Park yesterday. Snead's roots are in scouting. He's been in the Atlanta front office for 13 years, replacing Billy Devaney. He brings a mixed record. Atlanta has been able to put together a pretty good team, but they disappointed this season. A big part of that was their inability to re-sign their free agents on the offensive line, namely Harvey Dahl, since the team had a long list of players to re-sign and limited cap flexibility. Of course, Atlanta is most remembered on the personnel front for their decision to trade the farm for Julio Jones, a move that might set them back even for as good as Jones is. GM Thomas Demitrioff owns that move.

Arizona Cardinals director of player personnel, Steve Keim, is the next GM candidate the Rams will interview.

All this is playing out against the backdrop of the Rams waiting for Jeff Fisher to make a decision. If he agrees to join the Rams, that would most likely influence their GM decision.

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