Colts GM Ryan Grigson could be on the hot seat alongside coach Chuck Pagano, according to Jason Cole of Nerdy Football (video link). The criticism for Grigson, Cole says, has been primarily about player acquisitions, including the trade for Trent Richardson and the selection of first-round pick Bjoern Werner.

There have also been grumbling within the organization about Grigson’s meddling in the team’s day-to-day operations, according to Cole, who wonders whether Grigson could get pushed aside or pushed out altogether if Colts owner Jim Irsay goes after a high-end coach like a Nick Saban or a Sean Payton.

Here’s more from around the AFC South:

• The Titans announced today that Marcus Mariota is making some progress, but isn’t ready to start on Sunday, meaning Zach Mettenberger will get the call against Atlanta (all Twitter links via Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com). As Joel Corry of CBSSports.com observes (via Twitter), a strong showing in Mariota’s absence could give Mettenberger a better chance to play for another team in 2016, since it would boost his trade value.
• Free agent defensive lineman Christo Bilukidi has a workout lined up with the Titans next Tuesday, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Bilukidi, who worked out for the Vikings earlier this week, was drafted by the Raiders in 2012 and has seen action for Oakland, Cincinnati, and Baltimore since then.
• One more Titans note: Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com (Twitter link) expects wide receiver Rico Richardson to be promoted from the team’s practice squad, with Harry Douglas out this week. Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com agrees, tweeting that tight end Chase Coffman and running back Terrance West are candidates to be cut.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

The 49ers have ended the season of safety Antoine Bethea, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, who reports that Bethea has been placed on the injured reserve list. The move clears a spot on the roster for wide receiver Jerome Simpson, who is returning from a six-game suspension.

Bethea, 31, hasn’t missed a regular season game since 2007, playing – and starting – an incredible 146 out of a possible 151 games over the course of his 10 NFL seasons. However, he’ll be sidelined for the final nine games of the Niners’ 2015 campaign due to a shoulder injury.

Bethea left Thursday night’s game against the Seahawks with the shoulder issue, and was having an MRI conducted today, so we can assume the results of that MRI weren’t great. Safety Jaquiski Tartt looks like the best bet to take over for Bethea’s job for the second half of the season.

As for Simpson, the Niners had been granted a roster exemption for the suspended wideout, allowing the team to keep him on the reserve/suspended list for an extra few days, following his six-game ban. Now that he’s on the 53-man roster, the ex-Viking will be eligible to play in San Francisco’s next game.

Through the 2015 NFL season, Nerdy Football will be looking ahead to the 2016 offseason, gauging the salary cap situation for each of the league’s 32 teams. The cap for 2016 hasn’t been set yet, but we can still assess the salary commitments made by a club and determine whether or not that club will be in good financial shape going forward.

In addition to evaluating each team’s overall cap situation, we’ll focus in on a few key players who may be candidates to be extended, restructured, or released by their current teams. These lists aren’t comprehensive, and depending on a player’s 2015 performance and health, he could drop off one of these lists – or be added to one – as the season goes on. For now though, these are some players to watch.

Using data from Over The Cap, we’re making our way through the 32 NFL teams in order of total salary commitments for 2016. Today’s team is the Dolphins, who currently have the third-most money on their ’16 cap.

Let’s dive in….

Top 10 cap hits for 2016:

1. Ndamukong Suh, DT: $28,600,000
2. Ryan Tannehill, QB: $11,640,000
3. Branden Albert, LT: $10,150,000
4. Mike Pouncey, C: $10,025,000
5. Cameron Wake, DE: $9,800,000
6. Jordan Cameron, TE: $9,500,000
7. Brent Grimes, CB: $9,500,000
8. Reshad Jones, S: $8,202,942
9. Dion Jordan, DE: $6,202,377
10. Greg Jennings, WR: $5,500,000
    Current 2016 cap number for top 51 players: $146,763,779

Nestled between Joe Flacco‘s $28.55MM cap charge and Drew Brees‘ staggering $30MM cap hit, Suh’s number for 2016 is one of the largest in the league, and contributes significantly to the Dolphins’ overall total for next year. Suh currently represents nearly 20% of Miami’s cap number for 2016, which is a huge percentage for any player, and particularly for a non-quarterback.

The rest of the Dolphins’ top 10 is populated by a combination of core contributors and players who may not be back on the roster next season, with Tannehill at the top of the list of players not named Suh. Miami isn’t necessarily locked into Tannehill as its long-term quarterback, but the team is unlikely to make a change before the end of the 2016 season — the 27-year-old’s salary for next year is fully guaranteed, and his cap charge doesn’t increase significantly until 2017, when it jumps over $20MM.

Candidates for extension:

• Brent Grimes, CB
• Cameron Wake, DE

Grimes and Wake are arguably the Dolphins’ two best defensive players besides Suh, and they’ll see their current contracts expire after the 2017 and 2016 seasons, respectively, which should make them extension candidates. However, it’s not clear how much longer Miami may want to keep the duo around. Grimes is 32 years old and Wake will turn 34 in January, so it’s not as if the team will be eager to tack on another three or four years to either player’s contract.

Still, both players are still very productive, and there’s some room to maneuver if the Dolphins want to lock either of them up to new deals. It probably makes sense to wait on Grimes, who remains under contract for two full years after 2015, but extending Wake’s pact by a year or two would allow Miami to reduce his $9.8MM cap charge for 2016 — the club would just have to avoid taking on a ton of dead money for any new years, since there’s certainly no guarantee Wake continues to rack up Pro Bowl appearances as he enters his mid-thirties.

Candidates for restructure:

• Ndamukong Suh, DT
• Mike Pouncey, C

As noted above, Suh’s $28.6MM cap number for 2016 is begging for a restructure, especially since his charge for 2017 is just $15.1MM — a pittance, by comparison. Despite the fact that Suh has yet to make the impact in South Beach that his new team expected, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon with so much guaranteed money left on his deal, so a restructure looks like the only logical move if the Dolphins need to reduce his cap hit.

As for Pouncey, he’s another player who signed a new contract this past spring that looks like a strong candidate for a restructuring. Like Suh’s deal, Pouncey’s pact features its largest cap number in year two, giving Miami the flexibility to rework it and spread some of that money out from 2017 to 2020, if necessary.

Candidates for pay cut or release:

• Branden Albert, T
• Jordan Cameron, TE
• Dion Jordan, DE
• Greg Jennings, WR
• Brice McCain, CB

Of the players listed here, Albert is probably the least likely to be released by the Dolphins within the next few months. After all, it was only about a year and a half ago that he landed one of the top free agent contracts of 2014, signing a five-year, $47MM deal with Miami.

Still, the former Chiefs tackle has had problems staying healthy. After missing four games in his last year in Kansas City, Albert missed another seven in his first season with the Dolphins, and has been sidelined for two more this season. Assuming he finishes the 2015 campaign strong and heads into the offseason with a clean bill of health, Albert should be back in Miami in 2016, but if he continues to be plagued by injuries, that’s not quite a certainty. The 30-year-old has cap numbers exceeding $10MM in each season from 2016 to 2018, with no guaranteed salary left on his contract in those years.

Cameron and Jennings each signed two-year deals with the Dolphins that included large cap hits in year two, reducing the chances of them playing more than one year each in Miami. So far, they haven’t been a huge part of the Dolphins’ offense, combining for just 23 receptions in five games, and they’ll take up a total of $14MM on the 2016 cap if they stick around.

McCain, meanwhile, has a reasonable $3.5MM cap number for next year, but he hasn’t exactly impressed during the first few weeks of the 2015 season, and the Dolphins could create $2.5MM in cap savings by cutting ties with him in the offseason. As for Jordan, a draft bust selected by former GM Jeff Ireland, the club currently isn’t paying his full salary while he remains stashed on the reserve/suspended list — otherwise, it’s unlikely he’d still be a Dolphin. Jordan’s off-field issues and on-field ineffectiveness have all but guaranteed he’s not a part of Miami’s future.

Contract information from Over The Cap was used in the creation of this post.