San Diego Chargers – Ryan Leaf (No. 2 pick, 1998)
It is incredibly easy to poke fun at the Chargers for choosing Ryan Leaf with the number two pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. After all, Leaf was an unmitigated disaster for the entirety of his professional career. However, there was a legitimate discussion at the time about who the number one pick should have been: Leaf or Peyton Manning.
The Chargers were just tremendously unlucky.
Obviously, San Diego did not have the benefit of choosing between the two, but Leaf was considered an elite prospect and the team needed a quarterback. The numbers were absolutely brutal, though, as Leaf completed just 48 percent of his passes with the Chargers to go along with 33 interceptions and only 13 touchdown passes.
In his 18 starts, San Diego posted just a 4-14 record and, in case you are unfamiliar with his work, Leaf was not exactly the picture of professionalism off the field. Any number of statistics could be used to explain just how much of a mess this pick was. But in the end, it is simple enough to state that the Chargers and Leaf were one of the most unhappy marriages in NFL draft history.
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