Ryan Leaf suffered through a rough NFL career, most of the issues self-imposed. Things did not get better after the former No. 2 overall pick of the San Diego Chargers — behind Peyton Manning — left football.
Troubled times saw Leaf imprisoned and eventually rebound, trying to find his way.
He has become an advocate “for those struggling with mental, and behavioral health issues and encourages audiences to transform the way we think about mental health issues and addiction. Ryan works to eliminate the mental health stigma and says, “asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.”
On Monday, former Charger and Buccaneer WR Vincent Jackson was discovered dead at 38 in a Florida hotel room. The news appeared to shake Leaf, who posted a teary, emotional video in which he put the NFL on blast.
Warning: there is NSFW language throughout Leaf’s video.
“I talked to another brother — he spent the weekend in a psych ward — today,” Leaf said. “The NFL just doesn’t (bleeping) care. They don’t care. I mean, they’ll write condolence letters and shit like that, but if they were invested, they’d actually put some money into the Legends Community, and into the mental health and substance abuse side of it.”
I don’t know who needs to hear this, or if I just needed to say it, but I will not continue to stand by and watch my brothers disappear because the multi billion $$$ corporation won’t do the right thing. @nfl @NFLPA do something!! #igoturback #nflbrotherhood pic.twitter.com/rQciHiPSgZ
— Ryan D Leaf (@RyanDLeaf) February 16, 2021
“My NFL brothers continue to die and no one is doing a God-damn thing about it,” Leaf said.
“… Once you are bad for the brand, the shield, the could give two (expletive). I don’t know what the hell to do. They don’t get how precious life is and I have this (bleeping) survivor’s guilt on top of it. You do something… you do something … just be part of the solution, please.”