Ryan Leaf (Washington State)
For those of you who think JaMarcus Russell was a disaster, we would like you to meet Ryan Leaf! This “then and now” photo, is all you need to know about former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf. As the poster child for “NFL Draft Busts” it’s impossible to compile a list like this without including Leaf. Why is Leaf considered one of the worst draft busts in NFL history? Well it seems hard to believe now, but prior to the 1998 NFL draft there was a legitimate debated as to whether Leaf or Peyton Manning should be the first overall pick. Many scouts thought Manning was “the safer pick” but favored Leaf’s arm strength and viewed him as the better prospect.
You want your quarterbacks to have confidence, but Leaf was arrogant and believed he was better than everyone and it was painfully obvious. Everyone remembers the (caught-on-camera) incident of him screaming at a reporter in the locker room, and having to be physically restrained by teammate Junior Seau. Less than a year later, Leaf started a screaming match with General Manager Bobby Beathard (the guy who drafted Leaf). At one point, Leaf even approached a heckler in the crowd during Chargers training camp. In 2002, just four years after the Chargers drafted him, Leaf was out of football. Leaf finished his NFL career with miserable totals of 14 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. If that wasn’t bad enough — future Hall of Famers Charles Woodson and Randy Moss were both available when the Chargers drafted Leaf.
Ray Neal Sr. says
RG III should definitely NOT be on this list. He’s the only quarterback on this list that actually had success in the NFL. But when you bump heads with a coach like Shanahan you get blackballed. The fact that he suffered an injury in Cleveland maybe ended his career but never his talent. Oh… By the way he still playing in the NFL today. I wouldn’t mind seeing what he does if given another chance and healthy.
Randy Treibel says
Manziel’s problem was more than alcohol, it was that he was Borderline Personality Disorder. They are dangerous and toxic people
Mikado_Wu says
Most of these QB’s where either drafted to a crappy Team or Played in a system not set for their skills. Take Rick Mirer, Rookie Season under Flores he does great in a west coast offense, Seahawks go 7-9 with DBs that worked at Homedepot in September. They fire Flores, bring in Erickson and the whole offense is changed. Nobody fitted his offense, not the lineman, not the RB or the QB. Sadly Rick takes the blame. You could say the same thing about Matt Lienart. Coaches screw these things up.
TD Ross says
Michigan had a good string of future NFL QB’s between Jim Harbaugh and Chad Henne, but there was one very surprising bust; Drew Henson. Meanwhile, a contemporary of his at Michigan has done rather well at QB in the NFL.
gman says
It seems like USC QBs just don’t do well in the NFL for some reason, you would think that by being in a pro style offense they would do better,very puzzling !
Bob Kaschner says
Browns landed three on this list, but you could have added a fourth in Brandon Weeden. What a disappointment. 2018 sees some grossly over rated college QB prospects, which means the Browns, with the #1 pick, may roll the dice for a fifth time.
Gary Masters says
They got the cash and retired healthy with their brains intact. I say that was success.
Francois Ca'va says
??? Where is Art Schlichter??? How can you not make him the #1?? Set all time records at Ohio State and then gambled away his NFL career and his life.
Wino John says
In Leinart’s defense, he had five season ending injuries in the last 8 games he played. In other words, he wasn’t just injured, he was seriously injured, in more than half his last 8 games in the league.
Driller says
How can you make this list and not have Todd Marovich on here. Some on this list don’t belong here if you last on a NFL roster for 5 years something needs to be said for that.
James Davis says
One could reasonably argue that Todd Marinovich wasn’t a failure at all, that the failure was Marv, trying to improve upon his on football career through his son. You know, like Lavar.
Andrew Vincent says
In fairness to Harrington, he was drafted by a crappy team, his O-Line left a TON to be desired, had nobody to mentor him for his first 2 or 3 years (as most Rookie QBs have on other teams) and was expected to turn the franchise around.
Not the least bit surprising he didn’t pan out the way he should have. Had he been drafted by a decent team and/or had a mentor to guide him thru his first couple of years, and so forth, I have no doubt whatsoever he would be remembered in a much, MUCH better light.