The Legacy of Bill Polian

In Bill Polian's legacy, the day he chose Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf with the number one pick in the 1998 NFL Draft shines brightly. That decision gave him a ticket to victory for over a decade, and glory in the annals of sporting history, but it also spared him the embarrassment of being responsible for choosing what is considered the biggest draft failure in NFL history. And, although it may seem ridiculous today, the truth is that it was not an easy decision.

Polian confessed years later that he had no idea why he had chosen Manning. They say that both players were so evenly matched in technical reports that the choice ended up being a matter of gut feelings, baseless impressions. A flip of a coin, if you will.

Ryan Leaf had a fantastic college career at Washington State. He broke all kinds of passing records in his conference, then known as the PAC-10 (now PAC-12), and played in the 1998 Rose Bowl, in his junior year, although they lost against the eventual season champions: the Michigan Wolverines. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, the award for the player of the season. He didn't wait to complete his four years in college and entered the draft. All experts unanimously gave him the number one or number two spot.

But in the pre-draft process, he began to show that he wasn't all that glitters. He gained weight before the Combine. He decided not to attend some interviews, including those of the Colts. And he showed an attitude that went beyond self-confidence and entered the realm of arrogance. However, the San Diego Chargers chose him with the second pick in the draft because he was a player promise that could not be overlooked. He signed a $31 million contract, with $11 million guaranteed, and that's when his downfall began.

His first year was described by his teammate Rodney Harrison as "an unimaginable nightmare from the outside. If I had to live through a similar year, I would probably retire." Leaf clashed with his teammates, the press, and the fans. He played poorly, terribly, and blamed his own team players for it.

His second year ended 20 minutes after it started when he got injured in the first preseason training session. Once again, he had incidents with fans, even threatening one who called him the worst draft pick in history, and with his coaches, with whom he came to blows, earning him a suspension... during which he went to play flag football, something he was prohibited from doing under contract. Additionally, while the other Chargers quarterbacks had video sessions, he would sneak off to play golf.

In his third year, the 2000 season, he shared the starting position with Moses Moreno, and began to complain about a wrist injury that would haunt him for the rest of his short career, although several coaches doubted it, seeing it as a mere excuse to avoid training most of the time. The team finished with a record of 1-15 and Leaf was cut. He ended his time with the Chargers with a ridiculous QB rating of 50.0 and a completion percentage below 50%.

He had three more opportunities in the league, with the Bucs, Cowboys, and Seahawks, as there are always people who find it unbelievable that a guy with such talent is not able to play in the league, but all of them gave in to the evidence of Leaf's incapacity long before giving him the chance to play in any other NFL game. While in Seattle, and at the age of 25, he retired from the professional practice of the sport.

Things didn't go much better for him off the field. With a severe drug addiction, he embarked on a tour of police stations in Montana, Washington, and Texas due to consumption and possession of substances, and by 2010, he was also involved in robberies with assault. He was in jail until 2014 and ended up with seven years of convictions.

Today, Ryan Leaf is considered the biggest draft failure in history almost unanimously. Not only because of the terrible management of his talent or the woeful career he had, but also because there was a time when his name was side by side with Peyton Manning. And the comparison with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time is too painful to overlook.