INDIANAPOLIS – Jim Irsay has had recent talks with the greatest player in Indianapolis Colts history, but Peyton Manning is not in the running for the team's open general manager position.
Irsay addressed those rumors on Saturday evening, just a few hours after he fired Ryan Grigson.
Manning and Irsay have spoken several times over the past year, however the Colts Owner said that "serious negotiations" involving a role within the organization never evolved between the two parties.
"When (Manning) came in for the (Super Bowl) 10th anniversary reunion, him and I sat and had some time to talk alone," Irsay shared on Saturday. "I said I would be happy to be a sounding board for him asking him what he was thinking about going forward with his career and that sort of thing. But there were never any serious negotiations or anything like that for him coming in to be general manager.
"I would welcome the opportunity for him and I to talk about that possibility someday that he would play some role in our organization. I think you have to remember that it hasn't even been a year since the confetti fell from his Denver Super Bowl victory. He is enjoying retirement, enjoying the chance to not be downed in a schedule and that sort of thing. Right now, it's something where he is not in the mix, in this process, for interviewing general managers."
Long-time NFL personnel man Jimmy Raye III has been elevated to the interim GM role for the Colts.
After 17 years in San Diego, Raye has spent the last four seasons in Indianapolis as the team's Vice President of Football Operations.
Raye's name was the only one Irsay mentioned specifically on Saturday as a candidate for the new opening.
One rumor that Irsay did squelch over the weekend was regarding former Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden.
Irsay said him and Gruden did not talk about the head coaching position.
"I talked to a ton of people about, 'What do you think about our franchise? What did you see when you've watched us play?' And all those sorts of things," Irsay said when inquired about Gruden.
"I talked to a lot of people, a lot of ex-coaches, that sort of thing. I have known Jon – he has a long family lineage; his dad was a coach as well. But no, there was not any (talks). I know there were reports that there were negotiations about Peyton being the general manager and Jon Gruden being our head coach. That's not true. I am not going to talk about every person I talked to in evaluating our program, but that was never something that was in the cards so to speak."
While the names Irsay will eventually meet with for the new GM job remains to be seen, the Colts Owner will operate in a prudent manner.
Irsay waited nearly three weeks until after the end of the 2016 season before relieving Grigson.
The Colts are currently just one of two teams without a general manager.
"We will have an extensive process to interview general managers," Irsay said on Saturday.
"I will say that this timing was right for us. We needed the time to go through the process. Internally, we worked through some things, even through this week, that gave us some direction on our final decision."
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