Bill Polian of the Colts Was Scouting Andrew Luck Last Weekend ... Or Maybe Visiting His Son, a Stanford Assistant Coach

On the surface, it’s juicy: Peyton Manning’s 35 now and he’ll be 36 coming off a neck injury next season and he’s obviously near the end of a Hall of Fame career … so maybe his heir apparent is Andrew Luck, the Next Great Franchise QB?

Except everyone omitted a key fact: Bill Polian’s son, Brian, is an assistant coach at Stanford. According to the AP, the Polians have a home in Charlotte. So maybe the Polian-Luck story isn’t as delicious as it sounds.

Obviously, the Colts would love to get Andrew Luck. Everyone in the league has been scouting him for at least two years. If Indianapolis loses this weekend at home to Cleveland, the tank-for-Luck chatter will be off-the-charts, and maybe some Colts will even start to believe it. Is that why the Browns opened as 3-point favorites against the Colts? I’m still part of the (dwindling) minority that thinks the Colts aren’t that bad, and I don’t think they’re even in the discussion for Luck.

But a 1 or 2-win season and then drafting Andrew Luck would feel a lot like the time Davis Robinson got hurt … and the Spurs drafted Tim Duncan. Robinson still stuck around for six years after Duncan arrived, but the torch was passed well before then. Manning would mentor Luck for a year or two, then step aside, and then the Stanford superstar would take over the franchise for the next 10-15 years.

Previously: Peyton Manning’s Out For Awhile, But the Colts Will Not Be Close to the Worst Team in the League