Ryan Leaf On Manziel's Situation: 'I Don't Necessarily Think The NFL Has Much To Offer'
By: Josh Clark
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DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Former number one overall pick, Ryan Leaf, joined the GBag Nation live from radio row at Super Bowl 50 to discuss embattled quarterback Johnny Manziel.
Leaf, who is known as one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history, sees a lot of his past in Manziel.
"I understand because a lot of the things that have come across feels like I'm looking into a mirror. I'd like to say that my poor play as a professional athlete was because of substance abuse, but I actually didn't start abusing drugs till after I retired. So it's a different kind of concept for me because he's in the throws of playing, trying to be a starting quarterback in this league and have to deal with whatever issues he's dealing with."
Leaf cites being surrounded by the wrong people during his playing career as being part of the reason he failed in professional football. After being selected as the number one overall pick by the San Diego Chargers in 1998, Leaf would abruptly retire in 2001.
"The behaviors for me was just being placed on a pedestal so early in life. No one really telling you no. And also, not failing. I didn't fail until I got to the NFL. When it was really difficult, I didn't know how to deal with it in the right way. I was the one that had financial security, I could tell you to go away. I pushed away all of the people that truly cared about me and hung out with a lot of yes men."
"It's got to be terribly difficult for him right now because I know he's probably feeling like no one is there to support him when truthfully there are people that unconditionally love him, that were willing to just wrap their arms around him, and he may just not be hanging around those people. "
On Friday morning, Johnny Manziel's father, Paul, told the Dallas Morning News that, "I truly believe if they can't get him help, he won't live to see his 24th birthday."
The GBag Nation on 105.3 The Fan asked Leaf if his father was one of those people that he pushed away during his time in the NFL?
"I did, my dad wouldn't make it public, though, he would sit me down and tell me to my face. I just simply didn't follow the most important man in my life for whatever reasons and now I do," said Leaf. " It's also weird to see your father out there publicly talking about it...That's always been difficult, but this day and age people get to you from any news outlet and sometimes you're just saying something of the cusp and of course it's a soundbite."
Leaf was asked about his opinion of how the NFL handles cases like Manziel's and if they are equipped to help?
He responded by saying that,"I don't necessarily think the NFL has too much to offer when it comes to this because it's stigmatizing and the NFL doesn't want that viewpoint. I think they do (need to step it up). They need to look at this as a disease, period, and delve into it. I know the trust and the legends' programs are doing that after the careers are over, but they need to be handled when the career is going on because some of them are still dealing with all that stuff. I think the new collective bargaining agreement has done a good job with that."