After originally joining the Vikings staff in a senior personnel role in February of 2022, Ryan Grigson was promoted to senior vice president of player personnel following the 2022 NFL Draft. Grigson adds 23 years of front office experience to the Vikings personnel staff, serving most recently as a senior football advisor with the Cleveland Browns and most notably as the Indianapolis Colts general manager from 2012-16.
While with Cleveland, he worked with Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry and the rest of the senior football staff, including Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, to contribute to all roster and strategic football decisions. Additionally, Grigson provided valuable counsel and trusted insight to Berry as a second-year general manager.
During his time with the Colts, Grigson rebuilt the roster, taking them to three consecutive playoff appearances, winning two AFC South titles and guiding them to an overall 52-34 record. His initial 2012 draft class, consisting of QB Andrew Luck, WR T.Y. Hilton and others, gained more yards from scrimmage than any rookie class in modern NFL history. Grigson inherited a roster than went 2-14 the year prior to him becoming general manager and led the Colts to an 11-5 record in 2012, earning Sporting News NFL Executive of the Year and Pro Football Writers of America NFL Executive of the Year. The nine-win turnaround was the third largest improvement in league history, and the Colts did not register a losing season during his tenure. In 2015, the Colts broke a 43-year-old NFL record after winning their 16th consecutive divisional game, a standard set by the only perfect team in the NFL modern era, the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
In his tenure as general manager, he served on multiple committees, including the National Football Scouting Board of Directors, NIC Combine Review Committee, College Relations Advisory Committee, NFL General Manager Advisory Committee and the Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship Advisory Council.
The Highland, Indiana, native spent the 2017 season in Cleveland as the club's senior personnel executive before making the move to Seattle's personnel department during the 2018 offseason. During his time in Seattle, the Seahawks posted consecutive postseason berths.
Grigson spent the 2004-11 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, rising in rank from western regional scout to director of college scouting before becoming director of player peronnel in his final two seasons. During that span, the Eagles advanced to the postseason five times, highlighted by a trip to Super Bowl XXXIX.
Before his tenure with the Eagles, he spent five seasons with the St. Louis Rams as a national scout (1999-00) and area scout (2002-03), during which the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV and advanced to Super Bowl XXXVI. He also has experience in the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League as a scout and assistant coach. He also spent time coaching at the collegiate level as an offensive line coach at McPherson College in 1998.
Grigson was drafted in the sixth round of the 1995 NFL Draft out of Purdue by the Cincinnati Bengals and played two seasons in the NFL and one in the CFL. His brother, Dru, is the director of player personnel for the Arizona Cardinals and signed as a rookie free agent with the Minnesota Vikings in 2003.
Grigson and his wife Cynthia have six children.
