Athletes - Ryan Leaf

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	Athletes - Ryan Leaf

Ryan David Leaf (born May 15, 1976 in Great Falls, Montana) is a former American football quarterback who played for the San Diego Chargers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks. He is now the quarterbacks coach at West Texas A&M University.

Leaf was the second overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft after a successful college career at Washington State University. However, despite his athleticism, his time as a pro was short and marked by failure, which according to critics was largely due to his immaturity, arrogance, and poor work ethic. Ryan Leaf is now considered the greatest bust in NFL history.

College career

After having led his high school to the 1992 Montana state title, Ryan Leaf continued playing football in college at Washington State University, where he majored in broadcast communications. He played in 32 games for the Cougars, starting 24 of them. His junior year, he averaged 330.6 yards passing per game and led the team to the Rose Bowl on January 1st, 1998, where they were defeated 21-16 by the Michigan Wolverines in a game that went down to the last play.

That year, Leaf was a finalist in balloting for the prestigious Heisman Trophy, which is given annually to the best college football player. He finished third in voting, behind winner Charles Woodson of Michigan, and runner-up and fellow quarterback Peyton Manning of Tennessee.

Following the Rose Bowl, Leaf announced that he would forego his senior year at Washington State and turn professional. The decision apparently made sense at the time; not only was Leaf widely considered to be poised for NFL stardom, but the Cougars team was, in a sense, set up for Leaf to leave. None of the Cougars' five starting offensive linemen and only one of the team's five receivers would return for the following season.

1998 Draft

Entering the 1998 draft, Manning and Leaf were widely considered to be not only the two best quarterbacks, but the two best players overall in the draft. The San Diego Chargers had the third pick of the draft, but entered into a huge trade with the Arizona Cardinals to guarantee they'd get one of the two quarterbacks. To move up one spot, the Chargers traded two first round picks, a second round pick and even three-time Pro Bowler Eric Metcalf.

There was actually significant debate over whether Leaf or Manning should be selected first. Leaf (6'5", 235 lbs) had a considerably stronger arm, but most analysts agreed that Manning was the more mature player. On draft day Manning seemed to be the consensus top choice and was selected first by the Indianapolis Colts. Since that time, Manning has become a superstar and probable Hall of Famer, while Leaf's short career was spotted with poor game play and off-field antics. The Charger's other, and substantially better, quarterback options included Brian Griese and Matt Hasslebeck.

Following the draft, the Chargers signed Leaf to a four-year contract worth $31.25 million, including a guaranteed $11.25 million signing bonus.

Leaf's NFL career

San Diego Chargers

Disappointing San Diego's high hopes for Leaf, his rookie season was marked by horrific performances. In the third game of the season, he completed only one of fifteen passes for a mere four yards. In ten games that season, Leaf threw two touchdown passes and fifteen interceptions. He passed for 1289 yards and had a 45.3 percent completion rate, with a quarterback rating of 39. In contrast, Peyton Manning, the quarterback that was selected one place ahead of Leaf in the 1998 draft, broke rookie records for attempts, completion, yardage, and touchdown passes. Manning started all sixteen games and threw for 3739 yards with 26 touchdowns and 28 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 71.2. Leaf's brief career was constantly being contrasted to that of Manning's.

Leaf had a poor relationship with his teammates, whom he tended to blame for his poor play, and the media. In one embarrassing sideline incident (which would subsequently get Leaf suspended by the Chargers) during Leaf's rookie year, he was caught on camera screaming at a reporter. Another embarrassing on camera incident involved Leaf confronting a heckling Charger fan during a practice session. Two coaches had to restrain Leaf and escort him off the field.

Leaf had a particularly bad relationship with San Diego Chargers safety Rodney Harrison, who described being on the same team and practicing with Leaf as "a nightmare you can't even imagine." After hearing that Leaf retired in 2002, Harrison was quoted as saying, "he probably did the best thing; he took his money and ran."

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ryan Leaf ]

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