Ryan Leaf
Ryan David Leaf is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for four seasons in the National Football League. He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks.
Leaf played college football with the Washington State Cougars, finishing as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy after his junior year. He was selected as the second overall pick by the San Diego Chargers in the 1998 NFL draft after Peyton Manning, but his career was shortened due to poor play, bad behavior, injuries, and struggles with his work ethic and ability to stay focused.
After his NFL career ended, Leaf completed his degree at Washington State. He had legal troubles involving drugs beginning in 2010 when a Texas judge sentenced him to 10 years’ probation. Two years later, Leaf pleaded guilty to felony burglary and drug possession in Montana. After a suspended sentence with a stint in drug rehabilitation, Leaf began serving a seven-year sentence in state prison in December 2012. On September 9, 2014, Leaf was sentenced in Texas to five years in prison for violating his Texas probation by committing the robbery in Montana, but he never served time for this due to receiving credit for time served. He was released from prison in Montana on December 3, 2014. In October 2020, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in California and was sentenced to probation.
Leaf has worked as a Program Ambassador for Transcend Recovery Community, a group of sober living houses in Los Angeles, Houston, and New York. He also hosts a radio show and works as a college football analyst on television.
College career
After leading Charles M. Russell High School in Great Falls, Montana, to the 1992 Montana state title, he was told that his build and athleticism was good for a tight end, or maybe a linebacker by the head coach of the time, Dennis Erickson, at the University of Miami. He chose to be a quarterback for the Washington State Cougars instead after head coach Mike Price, who had coached longtime New England Patriots starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, called him on the phone while Leaf was watching the Rose Bowl, and told him "If you come here, we're going there". Leaf did not know that Washington State had not reached the Rose Bowl since 1931, but later told Sports Illustrated that he immediately knew he wanted to accept a scholarship and play for Price.He played in 32 games for Washington State, starting 24 of them. In his junior year, he averaged 330.6 yards passing per game and threw for a then Pacific-10 Conference record 33 touchdowns. He also led the Cougars to their first Pac-10 championship in school history. Despite his strong early showing in the 1998 Rose Bowl, Washington State was defeated 21–16 by the eventual Associated Press national champion Michigan Wolverines.
Leaf was a finalist in balloting for the Heisman Trophy that year, which is given annually to the "most outstanding" player in American college football voted in by media figures and former players. He finished third behind the winner, defensive back Charles Woodson of Michigan, and fellow quarterback Peyton Manning of Tennessee. He was named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and was part of the All-Conference team.
Leaf was also named first-team All-America by The Sporting News while finishing second in the nation in passer rating. The Rose Bowl helped make him a possible first overall selection in the NFL draft, and Leaf decided to forgo his senior year at Washington State and enter the 1998 draft.
College statistics
Professional career
1998 NFL draft
Peyton Manning and Leaf were widely considered to be the two best players available in the 1998 NFL draft, and scouts and analysts debated who should be selected first. Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy recalled that although his team did not need a quarterback, "Manning-Leaf was really split when you talked to people". Many, including 14 of 20 NFL coaches and executives in a survey, favored Leaf's stronger arm and greater potential. Others preferred Manning as the more mature player and safer pick. Most observers believed that it would not greatly matter whether Manning or Leaf was drafted first because either would greatly benefit his team.The Indianapolis Colts owned the first draft pick that year. Team scouts favored Leaf, but Colts president Bill Polian and coaching staff preferred Manning, especially after discovering during individual workouts that he could throw harder than Leaf. Manning also impressed the team during his interview, while Leaf missed his. Leaf's draft prospect profile described the player as "self-confident to the point where some people view him as being arrogant and almost obnoxious". Leaf gained about 20 pounds between the end of his junior season and the NFL Combine in February, which Jerry Angelo, one of six experts Sports Illustrated consulted on the choice, described as "a signal" about his self-discipline. All six believed that Manning was the better choice, but the magazine concluded "What does seem reasonably certain is that... both Manning and Leaf should develop into at least good NFL starters".
The San Diego Chargers had the third overall pick. Polian told Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard that he would not trade the Colts' pick. Beathard later said that he would have taken Manning with the first pick because he knew his father Archie Manning, "but that didn't mean there was anything bad that way with Ryan at the time". His team needed a new quarterback after having scored the fewest touchdowns in the league in the previous season. To obtain the second draft pick from the Arizona Cardinals, San Diego traded its third overall pick, a future first round pick, a second round pick, and three-time Pro Bowler Eric Metcalf, guaranteeing the right to draft whichever of the two quarterbacks Indianapolis did not take first. Manning was drafted first by the Colts and Leaf second by the Chargers, who signed him to a four-year contract worth $31.25 million, including a guaranteed $11.25 million signing bonus, the largest ever paid to a rookie at the time. Leaf said, "I'm looking forward to a 15-year career, a couple of trips to the Super Bowl, and a parade through downtown San Diego." The night after the draft, Leaf flew to Las Vegas, Nevada on the jet of Chargers owner Alex Spanos and partied all night; the following day Leaf yawned during his first news conference.
San Diego Chargers
1998 season
San Diego's high hopes for Leaf were soon dashed as his rookie season was marred by poor behavior, starting with skipping the final day of a symposium mandatory for all NFL draftees and incurring a $10,000 fine. Leaf nonetheless did well in the preseason and the start of the regular season, as the Chargers won their first two games. The Chargers won the season opener on September 6, 1998, 16–14 over the Buffalo Bills despite mistakes from Leaf such as fumbling his first snap and throwing two interceptions; Buffalo penalties voided two would-be interceptions from Leaf. In the game, Leaf's 6-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Still that followed a 67-yard pass to Still gave San Diego a 10–0 lead. However, late in the game, San Diego fell behind 14–13 after a Leaf interception. Leaf completed 16 of 31 passes for 192 yards in the opener and 13 of 24 passes for 179 yards in the second game, a 13–7 win over the Tennessee Oilers.Three days before the Chargers' September 20 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Leaf was hospitalized for a viral infection that he attributed to an improperly cleaned artificial-turf burn. He started the game but completed only one of 15 passes for four yards, threw two interceptions and had four fumbles in a 23–7 loss. The next day, Leaf was caught on camera shouting at San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Jay Posner to "knock it off" during a locker-room interview and was led away by Junior Seau and a team executive, during which he called Posner a "fucking bitch". He later apologized to Posner for the incident.
After Leaf had four first-half passes picked off by the New York Giants in Week 4, he was benched by head coach Kevin Gilbride in favor of former sixth-round pick Craig Whelihan. He started the following game on October 4 in a 17–12 loss to the Indianapolis Colts and top pick Peyton Manning. Both quarterbacks completed 12 of 23 passes and threw one interception, with Leaf having 23 more passing yards than Manning, but Manning threw the game's only touchdown and was never sacked while Leaf was downed four times. Inside the final two minutes and San Diego down 14–6, Leaf's 56-yard pass to Charlie Jones set up a one-yard Natrone Means touchdown run, but Leaf's potential tying two-point conversion pass to Webster Slaughter was incomplete. He then lost his starting job permanently to Whelihan following a 4-of-15, 23-yard performance with an interception against the Denver Broncos on November 8. Leaf finished the season with 1,289 passing yards in ten games and a 45.3% completion percentage with only two touchdowns against fifteen interceptions, earning him an abysmal quarterback rating of 39.0.
Leaf related poorly to both the media and his teammates, whom he tended to blame for his poor play, and developed a reputation for a poor work ethic, such as playing golf while other quarterbacks were studying film. Beathard said, "Guys can be jerks, but I've never seen a guy that worked harder at alienating his teammates. Junior Seau, Rodney Harrison, they came to me and said, 'Bobby, this guy is killing me.'" Harrison described the 1998 season as "a nightmare" due to Leaf's immaturity and Whelihan's inefficiency: "If I had to go through another year like that, I'd probably quit playing." During the offseason, the team's defensive veterans called on management to sign a veteran quarterback and demote Leaf to backup, claiming Leaf's shortcomings undercut their league-leading performance. Seau, for instance, urged management to "get a guy in here not to babysit, but to win" and give Leaf time to develop.