Polian inducted into Hall of Fame Saturday night

That’s why he’s going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this Saturday night.

In his 18th NFL season, Manning will be making his first trip to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Polian was named NFL Executive of the year six times, that’s the most ever.

In 24 seasons as a general manager or team president, Polian’s teams racked up 17 playoff appearances. The work he did with the Bills is a very large part of the reason that he’s entering the Hall.

“Yeah, that’s something I’m really excited about”, said Irsay regarding Polian’s enshrinement. It’s a great read that has a ton of insight about what it takes to be a decision-maker at the upper levels of an NFL organization. Even owner Ralph Wilson got inducted in 2009. A 2-14 record that season netted the Bills first overall pick of the 1985 NFL Draft. That franchise had the advantage of being close to Smith’s hometown of Norfolk, Virginia.

Now, many of those that Polian bet on, including Levy and Manning, are expected to be in Canton, Ohio, as Polian celebrates the greatest honor of his career. He is most noted for turning around the fortunes of three different clubs and made a combined five Super Bowl appearances with the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts.

He’s also contributed to bringing in cornerstone players like Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, and Steve Tasker to Buffalo. Kelly famously wanted nothing to do with Buffalo coming out of college, and two years in Houston had done little to change that. Metaphorically, Polian won and Kelly signed. The move was an overwhelming success, as Levy led the team out of the mid-’80s doldrums and back into contention by the end of the decade.

The teams Polian built have sent five players to the Hall of Fame – and more may be on the way.

There’s some star power at the Hall of Fame induction.

“In The Game Plan, Polian calls the three-team trade for Cornelius Bennett “.the move that would propel us from pretender to contender”. The Bennett trade left Buffalo without a first-round pick in 1988, but Polian made due.

Of course the man whose gift for words is nearly as good as Levy’s, his dear friend and football mentor, Bill Polian found them and they were ideal. It wasn’t until 1984 when he got his big break that started his Hall of Fame career. Unfortunately, the Bills lost all four of those Super Bowls, and Polian was actually fired after the third loss. “One thing I will always say is, he should have way more rings than he has”. He loved his players.

Kent Hull, a player Polian compared to a famous tough-guy actor, was signed after the USFL folded.

Our Chris Widlic caught up with former Colts coach Tony Dungy to get his take on what make Polian special.

In 1989, Polian acquired a 33-year-old James Lofton off waivers from Oakland. Former general manager and current ESPN analyst Bill Polian will be one of the inductees.

In 1995 Polian then joined the Carolina Panthers, an expansion team.

That wasn’t the first time Polian scared Colts fans by taking a Miami player in the draft. They were heady times for a franchise that stumbled through years of frustration before the Super Bowl run started. And as Manning notes, he was always around and involved with the day-to-day details of the team. The Bills had four, with Polian as the conductor.