Ryan Leaf

Who is Ryan Leaf?

Ryan David Leaf is a retired American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League for four seasons. He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks.

Leaf had a successful college career at Washington State University, where he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy after his junior year. He was selected as the second overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, but his career was short and interrupted by poor play, bad behavior, and injuries. An episode of NFL Top 10 ranked him as the No. 1 "draft bust" in NFL history.

After his NFL career ended, Leaf completed his degree at Washington State and became a volunteer quarterbacks coach at West Texas A&M University in 2006. In 2008, Leaf resigned after allegedly asking a player for pain medication, and Leaf would later encounter legal troubles involving drugs beginning in 2010 after a Texas judge sentenced him to 10 years' probation. Two years later, Leaf pled guilty to felony burglary and drug possession in Montana. After a suspended sentence with a stint in drug rehabilitation, Leaf began serving a seven-year sentence in state prison in December 2012.