By now, most who follow the NFL are probably intimately familiar with the story of the 1998 NFL Draft. It’s the class that saw one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Peyton Manning, go No. 1 overall to the Indianapolis Colts and one of the biggest draft busts ever, Ryan Leaf, go to the then-San Diego Chargers.
With the 25th anniversary of said draft happening this week, the crew at Good Morning Football had Leaf on as a guest to discuss his experience. As a result of his bust status, Leaf has struggled with his mental health and lived with that unfortunate label for a long time. In 2021, he even emotionally called out the NFL for not caring about its players.
But that wasn’t the point of contention of Leaf’s discussion here. No, no. Here, he called out former Colts general manager Bill Polian for embellishing the story of what led to Leaf’s draft bust.
Among the more notable tidbits?
In a recent video with The 33rd Team, Polian said Leaf’s pre-draft meeting with the Colts went horribly. But there’s one problem: Leaf clarified he’s never actually met Polian. This explanation followed a Tuesday Twitter post where Leaf first touched upon this “huge [expletive] lie.”
Ruh-oh.
Ryan Leaf joins us honestly and earnestly to reflect on the viral story of his draft and the importance of resolve @RyanDLeaf pic.twitter.com/zVA5i5gsuG
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) April 19, 2023
If Polian has indeed embellished details about what led to Leaf’s bust, that’s not great, especially when — as Leaf talked about — the former quarterback has had to contend with being an individual laughingstock in football circles for a quarter-century. When people think of “draft bust” in conversations, his name usually pops up first.
So, of course, he’s not going to take those allegations — ones that Polian may have gotten wrong — lightly.