Ryan Leaf accepts that he was wrong about calling Kenny Pickett a reach by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2022 NFL Draft in the offseason before the new starter in Pittsburgh played his first snap. The former second-overall pick by the San Diego Chargers in 1998 said Steeler Nation has been hot on his case about it, and he now sees the ability of the first-rounder from the University of Pittsburgh to succeed at the pro level.
While making an appearance on Cameron Heyward's Not Just Football Podcast, the veteran of 25 NFL games turned media member revealed he's a lifelong Steelers fan, who grew up running around the house in an 83 Louis Lipps jersey, and he's rooting for a guy he liked coming out of college to have success:
"They gave me a lot of hell," Leaf said about Steelers fans. "You still got the guy. I'm a Steelers fan, I want him to be awesome. When he got drafted, I loved the pick. I loved him coming out of college."
Back in August on an episode of the Rich Eisen Show, Leaf said he believed the team may have reached for Pickett.
"After seeing where the other quarterbacks went," Leaf said. "After seeing how Pickett has progressed so far in camp and is sitting in the third position right now in the initial depth chart, you may think a little bit that they may have reached for Pickett."
Offering Advice to Young Steelers
Leaf admitted he didn't really "believe I was meant to be an NFL quarterback," back in 2017 in an interview with USA Today, but the experience has put him in a unique position to offer advice to those who are meant for and striving for opportunities in the NFL. He also feels the next generation of players is much better equipped to deal with all the noise.
"I had a hard enough time reading it the next day in the papers from the beat writer, imagine sitting in your looker fresh off throwing a pick to end the game or something and you've got people telling you 'you're the worst thing in the world,'" Leaf said about the amount of criticism out there in the social media world now versus when he played. "I think these players are so much more prepared coming into the league. I think they're more mature than I ever was about 25 years ago."
Of course, when Leaf joins a podcast, the question of what he thinks about the labeling of prospects as busts is always going to be on the top of everyone's mind, and Heyward, who is not a fan of the term either, made sure to ask him about it:
"I don't like it, but I understand it is what it is with the expectations that exist when you're such a high draft pick and when you're drafted beside arguably the greatest to ever play," he said referring to his own story of being drafted behind Peyton Manning. "There's no truth in it. All the days we spent shooting hoops in the gym, throwing routes before school started, everything that goes into it."
Even though he's not a big fan of the usage of the moniker, he steered into the skid and found success using it for his podcast: Bust: The Ryan Leaf Story.
Leaf's work now is focused on helping other people and making his own life better through that:
"I don't get the life that I get to lead unless I make it about other people," he said. "What's ironic about that is your life gets better when you make it about other people and that's been the foundation of it. Through doing that, I've got to do so many cool things."
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