Grigson must make key decisions quickly

Ryan Grigson is coming home to rebuild the Colts possibly with a new coach, a new quarterback and an entirely different philosophy. For the first time, Grigson will be making all those tough decisions.

"I've been on teams whose guys were run off for the sake of running guys off," Grigson said. "That makes no sense to me. I like to salvage things if the ability is there."

Team owner Jim Irsay wants Grigson to make a decision on coach Jim Caldwell, a coach Grigson never even met until Wednesday, by the middle of next week.

Then the new GM must sort out Indy's complicated salary cap problem, a major concern for an aging team bereft of young talent and a young GM with little experience with the cap.

The Colts also must decide whether to pay a $28 million bonus to four-time league MVP Peyton Manning by March 8, renegotiate the contract or let the face of the franchise walk away as a free agent now that it looks as if the Colts will take Andrew Luck with the No. 1 overall pick in April. Grigson said he hasn't spoken with Manning, who missed the entire 2011 season after having his third neck surgery in 19 months.

Irsay said only that Manning continues to rehabilitate the neck.

Grigson also must decide which veteran free agents, if any, to bring back. That list includes Pro Bowl players Robert Mathis, Jeff Saturday and Reggie Wayne, all in their 30s.

"He is not walking into a normal situation," Irsay said. "When you have the No. 1 pick, when you have the salary cap problems we do, when you have injured players we do, when you have the coaching situation we do, this is a tough job to come into, but he's not without support. We're going to make the right decisions to win."