In 1998, did you think Ryan Leaf or Peyton Manning was the better choice?
I"ll admit it: I favored Leaf. I was a regular caller to sports talk radio discussing how great Leaf was going to be and wondering if the Chargers had enough strength on the line to protect him.
I did have a good reason for my bias towards Leaf: I was living in California at the time and saw a lot more Pac 10 football than the SEC.
Anyone else want to fess up about preferring Leaf? Or, if you though Manning was the better player at the time, why did you think so?
I thought both were very gifted (which is true). Leaf played against lesser competition and got decimated by Michigan in the Rose Bowl (Michigan’s defense was one of the best in college football history that year, in his defense).
I gave a slight edge to Manning, but at the time, I saw Manning as the greater flameout risk and Leaf as the higher risk to be a decent NFL quarterback for a long time.
I preferred Manning. I’m not sure why, though. I think it was more a personality thing than anything else, because physically they were both great athletes.
I think this is it. Everytime the two appeared on ESPN, Manning came off as the “true sportsman” and Leaf came across as the “egotistical entitled player.”
I probably would have bet on Leaf because I had a vague uneasiness that we were being fed “Look everyone its Archie’s Kid and he’s great!!” by the NFL-hype machine. I wasn’t going to play.
Ironically when Eli came out I had the same resistance : because I had a vague uneasiness that we were being fed “Look everyone its Peyton’s Brother and he’s great!!” by the NFL-hype machine. I wasn’t going to play.
Oh GOD. This still bothers me. I was convinced that Manning was going to crash and burn when he hit the pros, and I was fed up with the whole Archie Manning legacy angle. I’m pretty sure I shared this strong opinion with anyone who would listen during that draft season. I continue to cringe whenever I think back on it (like right now, thanks dalej42!)
To this day, I feel somewhat personally affronted by Manning’s success, as if he’s doing it just to spite me. I should probably get over it and move on …
Not really. He pretty much is what he is at this point: a somewhat above average QB with a good track record in high leverage (i.e. “clutch”) situations. Not an elite player, but still not a wasted #1 pick, as he’s clearly a QB you can win with.
I wish to wait a little longer. I’m still not entirely convinced. I expect him to blossom into an average NFL starter, which could also fit right into “a QB you can win with”, which we agree with.
I just want to see if he’ll get more consistency. He had an amazing postseason. Is the real Eli the regular season player or the postseason player?
I watched Ryan Leaf absolutely destroy my Illini in person in 1997 so going into the draft I had vivid memories of a couple long bombs he threw that covered about 80 yards in the air and were right in the bucket. I was in college and spent every Saturday partying with football block and going to the game so I hardly saw any games that weren’t live. As a result I basically never saw Manning play. Based on that scant info I favored Leaf and was skeptical of the Archie’s Kid angle for Peyton.
In retrospect I should have realized that Leaf killing my piss-poor 0-11 alma mater wasn’t much evidence in his favor.
I thought they were both potentially good to very good prospects at the NFL level, and I had given Leaf the edge, even though I’m an SEC guy and respected Manning’s ability.
But I was younger then, and I have now learned the valuable lesson that “can’t miss” and “NFL draftee” are indeed often mutually exclusive, especially at a position like QB.
There are so many examples of that: Leaf, Akili Smith, David Carr, Joey Harrington, Tim Couch, David Klingler, etc etc.
The fact that these highly touted guys go to the crappier teams in general is indeed a mitigating factor though. Some guys just can’t stick it out on a 2-14 team (like Manning) and ride the wave of changes over the years into a winning franchise.
I’m hoping Carson Palmer is never ever mentioned in this discussion.
I think Carson Palmer has already acquitted himself of this. He seems to be a fine QB.
His 331 passing yards on that day work in his defense as well. Granted he was only 50% passing, but I wouldn’t say he was decimated. Michigans defense was, as you mention, pretty darn good. They were the AP and USA Today #1 and Wash. State only lost by 5.
Back to OP: I remember reading that Leaf was a greater risk, but had more potential for “greatness”. Manning was polished and a safer pick. I had no idea Leaf was the real life Nuke Laloosh (Million dollar arm, $.05 head)… and being a Washington State alum- I was elated he was headed to my beloved Chargers.
<sigh>
At least now I know the true meaning of suffering.
I would’ve bet money on Leaf if such a bet existed. I thought Manning was equally good, but definitely a second fiddle to Leaf. Yeah…right… :smack:
As for the other QBs mentioned in this thread: I didn’t think Eli would be as good as his brother. I definitely didn’t think he would win a super bowl either. Between the two, I think Peyton is way more talented, 2-1.
Carson Palmer is really good, and was great in '06. My retention fantasy team got crushed the next year.
I figured Manning, mainly cause I’d been hearing (and seeing) how great Manning was for a few seasons, while I had never even heard of Leaf until about a month before the draft. I say always go with the “proven” commodity over “potential.”
Manning. Then and now. Leaf was just another in the long line of guys who had great workout numbers, got picked high, and wound up playing only about as well as they had in college (remember Mike Mamula and Jeff George? Same thing). Somehow, that always surprises NFL scouts, and fans who think numbers matter simply because they exist. The only concern would be his tendency to get rattled under a heavy rush and his mental block about winning big games (to this Pats fan, he still hasn’t) - he never beat Florida with the Vols, or won a big bowl game either. Leaf? What the hell did he do in college?
That’s especially true for QB’s and LB’s, where both mental abilities and the ability to subsume one’s own athletic identity in the function of the team matter at least as much as 40 times (and who runs 40 yards on the field anyway) and the ability to throw 70 yards on the fly (how often does that matter in a game?). The only way the overanalytical NFL scouting mind addresses that is with the ridiculous Wonderlic test. Maybe if they took actual game performance and interviews with college coaches seriously?
But maybe that’s starting to change. The Pats have been dominant because they don’t fall into that trap. Belichick would have laughed off the idea of taking a Workout Wonder with a high pick, and results show he’d have been right.
