Ryan Unable to Turnover A New Leaf

Ryan Leaf's booking photo

Before the 1998 NFL Draft, there was much debate about who would be the better professional quarterback – Ryan Leaf or Peyton Manning.  My answer back then to all my friends was Manning over Leaf.  I remember one of those friends calling me a few years back to recall the football debates we had as college teammates and telling me that I called this one right (as I often do! ha!).  It wasn’t that I didn’t think that Leaf wouldn’t be a good NFL QB, I just thought from the games that I had seen, Manning would be better.  There was no question that Leaf was a talented, strong-arm QB coming out of Washington State.  In retrospect the biggest question shouldn’t have been about his talent but his mental capacity.

Leaf went from signing a 4 year contract worth $31.25 million with the San Diego Chargers as the 2nd pick of the 1998 draft, to being out of football after 4 years.  To be fair, a part of his exit was due to a wrist injury during the 2000 season.  The biggest reason for his quick exit was his immaturity.  You can’t forget the confrontation that he had with San Diego Union Tribune reporter Jay Posner, which Junior Seau had to intervene in.  There was the shouting match with general manager Bobby Beathard that resulted in a suspension.  There is also the belief that he lied about a hand injury to get out of practice to go play golf.

In 2006 Leaf became a volunteer QB coach for West Texas A&M University.  It seemed that he had gotten his life together and had come to terms with his missed opportunity.  At some point Leaf got addicted to pain medication; it could have developed as result of his shoulder injury, a wrist injury, or another injury he sustained in football.  Two years later, in November 2008, his secret addiction would be exposed.  He was sentenced to 10 years probation for breaking into a player’s home to steal pills and obtaining more than a thousand pain pills illegally.

It had seemed after this situation that Leaf had overcome his addiction and found a comfortable life back home in Montana.  Then this weekend, on March 30th, he was arrested after the U.S. Postal Service tipped the Central Montana Drug Task force a month earlier about suspicious deliveries to Leaf’s home.  Leaf was apparently receiving packages of pain pills twice a week from Florida for which he was paying $500 to $700 per delivery.  He was asked to come to the Great Falls Probation and Parole Office  where a search discovered 20 oxycodone pills that seem to have been stolen from one of his friend’s house.  After posting $76,000 bail, he was released .

Just a few short days later, on April 2nd, Leaf was arrested again for breaking into a home and and being in possession of pills not prescribed to him.  He was discovered by the owner of the house, he told the owner he was at the wrong address and was in the house by mistake.  The man later noticed that there were three missing bottles of prescription drugs and called the police.  The description that the homeowner gave, lead police back to Leaf.  A search of Leaf’s home turned up 89 hyrdocodone pills but did not turn up the pills the homeowner reported missing.  A warrant obtained by law enforcement for Leaf’s GPS records, place him at the home at the time of the burglary.  The GPS data also places him at 5-10 other homes in the area.

Since Leaf was still on probation in Texas for the 2008 incident, there is a significant chance that his probation will be revoked by Texas officials on top of the criminal charges he now faces in Montana.  This is such a great fall for one of the most highly touted NFL prospects ever.  Addiction to pain medication is a serious problem, not just for athletes who battle with injuries but for the public as well.  It is estimated that over 7 million people in the United States abuse pain medication.  Let’s hope that Leaf gets the help he needs to overcome his addiction.