And Polian admits, Luechly was likely well served by landing with a team that put him at middle linebacker five games into his career and left him there, because that brought out Kuechly's best traits.
"Certainly in Tony's system, it's very likely he'd have been like Brooks," Polian said. "But he ended up in the right place because middle linebacker allowed him, with his ability to diagnose, his speed, his ability to get through blocks, and most importantly, his diagnostic ability, which is among the best I've ever seen. Middle linebacker is the right place for him because he got a chance to make many more plays."
Polian is the man who was the Panther GM in 1995 and signed Sam Mills, and has watched Mills, San Francisco's Patrick Willis, and Miami's Zach Thomas inducted in recent years to add to the middle linebacker fraternity.
And he's aware of the Panthers' proud tradition that he started.
But this guy is different.