“When you pay Andrew what we did, it’s going to take some time to build on the other side of the ball” — Colts GM Ryan Grigson

No sir. That is incorrect. What you failed to do was to build on the other side of the ball before you signed Andrew Luck. That would be the honest way of presenting the struggles of the team you built over the last 5 seasons.

Grigson has drafted 2 impact players since drafting Andrew Luck. One of those players T.Y. Hilton; is electric. The other is Donte Moncrief. That’s the list. No one is arguing that drafting in the NFL is easy. If the definition of “bust” is a player who starts fewer than 16 games, the bust percentage of players is about 70% after the first round. In other words, using players selected only after the first round, three in ten will start more than 16 games. Since 2013, Grigson and his staff selected 19 players after the first round. Only 5 of those players were listed as the primary starter for at least a full season. That works out to a 26% success rate, or just below the league average.

Compounding the issue is the use of non-Luck first rounders. 2013’s selection Bjoern Warner is out of the league. 2014’s selection was traded for Trent Richardson. 2015’s first round draft choice was used to select Phillip Dorsett. The Colts already had T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief. Damarious Randall, Bendarick McKinney, and Eric Kendricks were all selected after Dorsett. The Colts had just allowed the Pats to score 45 points in the AFC title game.

The issue as I see it is Grigson’s ability to self scout. He thinks this team and its players are better than they are. He’s running Frank Gore out there as the starting running back. This isn’t 2009. Gore’s backup is Robert Turbin. Turbin is on his 4th team. Per @mlombardifoxtv, 7 of the 11 starters on defense are 30 years old or older. Teams like the Patriots and the Steelers have had great success bringing in experienced veterans, but they typically limit their acquisitions of those players to 1 or 2. Grigson has brought in 7. On defense.

The reality is that this is a shame. Andrew Luck is a good quarterback. He is being wasted in Indy.