Hacksaw Hamilton: End of the road for Ryan Leaf?

Ryan Leaf. Had it all…Wasted it all…Lost it all.

His mailing address once read first-round pick NFL-San Diego; then Canyon, Texas; now British Columbia.

Reports have Leaf sitting in a Vancouver rehab center, trying to beat an addiction to pain killers. Next up, he’ll try to beat a nine-count indictment for breaking and entering, possession of illegal pills and dealing “simulated controlled substances” while the quarterback coach at West Texas A&M, a Division II school.

It’s quite a fall for the record-setting passer at Washington State. Quite a tumble from the elite status of being the second player in the NFL draft. Quite an embarrassment, running out of NFL chances. Quite a disgrace, now being a man without a team and maybe a man without a country if Texas authorities resort to the extradition process to get him into court.

Related Links: Leaf nabbed on drug, burglary charges | More from Hacksaw

I saw it all close up. From the triggerman of the flashy bombs-away offense at WSU; to the hopes of leading the Chargers back to glory; to the failure bouncing from one team to the next; to the horrors of having to quit his small college job. Now this — going through rehab sessions with doctors in another country, trying to beat a worsening addiction.

They once spoke glowingly of Ryan Leaf on football Saturdays up on the Palouse, the farming countryside in Eastern Washington. He took lowly Washington State to its first Rose Bowl since 1931. It ended a 67-year drought of football futility for the Cougars, who always were the “other team” in the state — the ugly sister of the cross-state Washington Huskies.

Leaf continued a great legacy of Cougars quarterbacks. Jack (Throwin’ Samoan) Thompson, eventual Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien, Drew Bledsoe, Tim Rosenbach. All NFL quarterbacks, all fondly remembered. But not so Leaf, not now.

In Pullman, Washington, they loved his game, but they did not necessarily like him. It was only after he left school that the rumblings started. Party guy, arrogant, egotistical — does not take criticism well. After the fact, those 7,443 passing yards and 55 touchdowns carry you only so far.

The stunning consensus from the Cougars faithful at the time — he’s San Diego’s problem now.

And was he ever. There were warning signs and red flags early. The Colts, with the first pick in the draft, were blown away by their combine meeting with eventual first-pick Peyton Manning. The Tennessee quarterback interviewed them about their offense, their coaches and their plans — not vice-versa.

Leaf showed up with his hat on backward, dressed like a frat guy and with little apparent intent on impressing them. He was Ryan Leaf. They should have been impressed.

The Chargers had already traded up to get to the second pick, working a deal that gave Arizona two first-round picks and other players. The Bolts were going to get a quarterback to lead them back to glory days. What they expected was athleticism and attitude. What they got was a slow learner with a bad attitude and worse habits.

His first day in San Diego should have been special. But instead of arriving straight from the NFL draft in New York, he stopped off in Las Vegas for an all-night party. He showed up the next day, but was not impressive. It went downhill from there.

He blew off the NFL rookie symposium and was fined by the league. He showed up at Kevin Gilbride’s minicamp and displayed all the raw skills the Chargers had hoped for. But that was in a helmet and shorts with no pass rush, no nickel and dime packages and no pressure. It was like freelance, flag football.

Leaf made training camp a spectacle. He liked the star status, but did not like the hazing. He whined and cried when veterans like Junior Seau lifted his newly-minted credit card and put an extravagant veteran’s dinner on it. It was the beginning of the end when the rookie quarterback beefed about a $3,000 tab. Other high picks, Seau included, had paid before. It was a tradition.

Gilbride had replaced Bobby Ross, and in his first season lost quarterback Stan Humphries to a career-ending concussion. A deteriorating roster led to lots of losses and pressure to turn the franchise around.

Enter Leaf, joining a bad team, with a head coach way in over his head. Leaf’s obnoxiousness was only superseded by Gilbride’s arrogance. A perfect storm: Lousy roster, undedicated quarterback, frantic coach, demanding fans.

History writes about all Leaf’s issue. Coaches told players to stay off the ground during preseason practices. Leaf, who had a history of fooling around in practice, dove on a fumbled snap and injured his throwing wrist. It was the beginning of the end for him. Ten years later, and the wrist injury and failed surgery led to this. Alleged stolen painkiller pills, an indictment, a rehab center.

In between he married a cheerleader and got divorced. Teammates had to stop him from accosting a Union-Tribune columnist in front of a locker room full of media. He cursed his own general manager and was suspended. He confronted a heckling fan at training camp, walking across the field to the stands at UCSD. He was caught on video playing flag football on an off weekend while supposedly rehabbing the wrist. He wore sunglasses in bars while binge drinking.

On the field he was a nightmare. He had an epically bad day in Kansas City (1-for-15, 4 yards passing, 2 interceptions, 3 fumbles). He cost Gilbride, Mike Riley and June Jones head coaching slots in San Diego. He went to Dallas, Tampa Bay and Seattle, always looking for a fresh start, but haunted by the injury and his own history. He walked out on two teams. His NFL ledger: four wins in three years, 14 TDs, 36 interceptions and 12 fumbles.

His career over, Leaf finished college, got a degree and hoped to make a second career coaching football. He had three good seasons as the quarterbacks coach at West Texas, but then the history, his past, and the ongoing pain of the persistent wrist injury caught up with him. Asking players for their pain killing pills. Then allegedly breaking into a player’s room to steal them and giving pills to others.

Many thought Mike Price, his legendary coach at Washington State, might give him a job at Texas-El Paso, where he has resurrected a floundering program. But no offer ever came. Now it would take an amazing leap of faith for Price to extend a helping hand to the big right arm that once put the Cougars on the Pac-10 football map. He might be his only friend left in football.

His legacy? Biggest bust in NFL draft history. He figuratively stole $11 million dollars in signing bonus money from Dean Spanos. He made $16 million over his tainted run. Never dedicated to preparation. Never healthy. Never a change in persona.

He was never toxic the way ex-Rams running back Lawrence Phillips was, now in prison on vehicular assault and domestic abuse charges. He was never toxic like Broncos running back Travis Henry, who pleaded guilty to possessing 11 pounds of cocaine and is notorious for being a deadbeat father with nine kids from nine women. But he was toxic in his own way — ruining his career and the good name of a general manager, destroying a couple of coaches and betraying an owner who has always been generous to his top talent.

Ryan Leaf is now fighting the biggest fight of his life — addiction. He always wanted you to know who he was. Now you do, for all the wrong reasons. Pullman was off the beaten path. Vancouver is in another country. Canyon, Texas is not the end of the world. But he could certainly see it, or prison from there.

I wonder if he ever thinks of what could have been in San Diego? Could have been king, became a bum.

Hoping for the best. Fearing the worst. Knowing his past.

Ryan Leaf. Had it all. Wasted it all. Lost it all.

SDNN sports columnist Lee “Hacksaw: Hamilton was the longtime voice of the Chargers on XTRA and hosts baseball talkshows on XM-175-Home Plate Channel.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Chargers, Football, Sports . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.