Bill Polian Says Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo Among Top QB Prospects Colts Scouted

Having already claimed the team had a first-round grade on Tom Brady in the 2000 NFL draft, former Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian called Brady one of the best passers he'd seen at the NFL combine.

On Instagram, the NFL shared a clip of Polian discussing some of the top quarterbacks he evaluated after selecting Peyton Manning first overall in 1998, with Brady's teammate Jimmy Garoppolo and Ben Roethlisberger leading the group:

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Roethlisberger 11th overall in 2004, while Garoppolo was a second-round pick of the New England Patriots in 2014. Polian's assessments about either player don't come as a huge surprise.

His description of Brady as "pretty darn good" is unexpected but mirrors what Polian told Sports Illustrated's Doug Farrar in September 2015:

"

And I don't think there was a guy in between, but Tom Brady would have been a guy, and we were very high on him. Our guys really loved him, but we weren't in the quarterback market, obviously. Those would be the guys I remember us giving solid, first-round, can-lead-you-to-a-championship grades.

[...]

Brady was less of a slam-dunk, of course. Less of a known commodity than Peyton was. But he had such a great last half of his last season [at Michigan], and fought Drew Henson for the starter's job, and he really came on. I don't remember where we ultimately put him, but it was certainly a very high grade. We weren't in the quarterback business, and it wasn't going to be an issue for us, but it was a very high grade.

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Polian's track record as an NFL executive earned him enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but his comments about Brady sound like revisionist history.

With Peyton Manning under center, the Colts had little need for a quarterback, which Polian mentioned. But Indianapolis had three opportunities to select Brady between the third round—a reasonable starting point for a young backup quarterback—and when the New England Patriots grabbed him with the 199th overall pick.

Even with Manning on the roster, passing on a quarterback with "first-round, can-lead-you-to-a-championship" potential was a nonsensical decision from the Colts if Polian's assertions are true. 

Brady wouldn't need to necessarily replace Manning in order to prove a valuable asset for Indianapolis. The team could've traded him to another team for a package of draft picks, as the Atlanta Falcons did with Matt Schaub in 2007 and the Patriots may at some point with Garoppolo.

Of course, the Colts' evaluation of Brady asserts the idea he would've had a similar career outside of New England, which is far from a guarantee. The cream always rises to the top, but being coached by Bill Belichick has undoubtedly had an impact on Brady's development as a quarterback.

Brady would've carved out a different path in the NFL as Manning's understudy in Indianapolis, and it's doubtful that route would've included five Super Bowl victories and a claim to be the best quarterback in the game's history.