It's still too early to call a winner in Manning vs. Leaf

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/I-say-it-s-still-too-early-to-call-a-winner-in-M?urn=nfl,78868

Thursday, Apr 24, 2008
I say it's still too early to call a winner in Manning vs. Leaf
By MJD

"... this could go down as one of the all-time (screw)-ups."
- Former Chargers GM Bobby Beathard, one year after drafting Ryan Leaf

And the general consensus seems to be that yes, Bobby Beathard did commit one of the all-time (screw)-ups ten years ago when he drafted Ryan Leaf 2nd overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. Probably the all-time (screw)-up.

But I think it really depends on what you're looking for in a draft pick. If you want a quarterback who's a lock to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and you don't want a quarterback who will be out of the league at the age of 26, but not before damaging your franchise in every possible way a player can damage a franchise, then yeah, maybe Bobby Beathard screwed up.

But here's what people fail to see: if Bobby Beathard doesn't make that pick, the West Texas A&M golf team wouldn't have such a capable coach right now. So many draft evaluators fail to take into consideration the needs of the West Texas A&M golf team when handing out their draft grades. I think it's thoughtless and cruel of them.

In the interests of full disclosure, I'll tell you that I'm a Chargers fan, but honestly, I'm past Ryan Leaf. I have no interest in dwelling on the guy, and I wish him the best. I hope the West Texas A&M golf team wins the next 30 national championships. May their grips be firm and their balls be straight.

But on the ten-year anniversary of the great Peyton Manning vs. Ryan Leaf decision, it's still worth looking back and noting just how damaging that day was to the Chargers. It wasn't just a bad draft pick. People had made bad draft picks before. Aundray Bruce. Steve Emtman. Ki-Jana Carter. All bad. All way, way, way better than Ryan Leaf.

If the Chargers could go back in time and take a guy who simply wouldn't make any positive contributions to their team, they'd do it in a second. They literally would have been better off drafting an epileptic plumber who can't read, and just paying him to stay home and watch cartoons and play with his wrench.

Two things made the Leaf pick so disastrous:

1) The amount the Chargers gave up to get him. They were slotted to pick 3rd in the draft, but to move up to the 2nd spot, they had to hand the Arizona Cardinals their #1 pick in the '98 draft, their #1 pick in the '99 draft, their 2nd-round pick in the '98 draft, and two players, Eric Metcalf and Patrick Sapp.

2) Leaf wasn't just worthless as a player, he actually damaged the franchise. If he just couldn't play, that would've been one thing. But players hated playing with him. He constantly clashed with coaches and management. He was causing a new media distraction every week.

The Chargers would have been better off if they'd gone up to the podium on draft day and said, "We pass. We're not going to make a selection. Also, we're going to go back home and burn down our stadium. Thank you, and goodnight."

Look at it this way: the New Orleans Saints had their city and stadium destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and I feel pretty confident in saying that Leaf hurt the Chargers more than Katrina hurt the Saints. Now, as far as I know, the city of San Diego's still doing okay, and the Ryan Leaf era didn't actually come with a death toll. But as far as the effects they had on football alone, Leaf was worse for the Chargers than Katrina was for the Saints.

After picking Leaf, it would be seven years before the Chargers would put up a winning record. It took the franchise seven full years to recover from him. Meanwhile, since drafting Peyton Manning one spot earlier in the same draft, the Colts, other than Manning's rookie season when they went 3-13, have had only one season where they've won fewer than 10 games.

On the flip-side, though, the West Texas A&M golf team just finished in 10th place in the Lone Star Conference Championship. Tenth place ... out of ten teams.

Okay, so maybe Peyton Manning does get the nod.

Related: Peyton Manning, Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers, NFL Draft