I started listening to Ryan Leaf's autobiographical podcast "Bust". He fills in for Rich Eisen sometimes and I was impressed with him as a broadcaster and with his candor, which is what got me interested. The first episode of the podcast sets up the series by opening with the point in time where he was rock bottom and then going back to his youth. It's interesting so far.
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"Bust" - Ryan Leaf's autobiographical podcast
- Thread starter GFB
- Start date
Ryan Leaf was a bust but not nearly as bad as Jamarcus Russell was. Oakland paid Russell $32M for 18 TD passes and it took him 3 years to get em.
But Mel Kiper said Russell was "John Elway-like" before the draft?! Seriously, the Raiders have made some insane picks throughout their history. Ryan Leaf could have been much better (great maybe) if not for being so self-destructive.
Jamarcus Russels problem was that he was a really good quarterback from the neck down...
There were no starting-caliber quarterbacks in the 2007 draft class but a lot of teams made early picks out of desperation. Only one team had the chance to pass on Megatron and it was the Raiders.
The guy I'd compare to Ryan Leaf career-wise is probably Jeff George.
Leaf talks about some of his injuries which make it sound like his pro career was over early on regardless. Torn labrum and then inoperable wrist break on his throwing hand. His crappy behavior and pill addiction definitely helped cause things to spiral.
