Johnny Manziel’s struggles remind Ryan Leaf of his own.
On Friday’s edition of the Dan Patrick Show, Leaf, one of the most famous draft busts of all time, made an appearance and was asked about Manziel’s struggles and what he saw.
“It feels like I’m holding up a mirror,” Leaf told Patrick. “When I hear some stories come out, I say, ‘Oh my God, I did that.’ I’d like to say that my substance abuse was the reason I played poorly, but I didn’t start using drugs until after I retired, so I can’t blame it on that. I just didn’t play well.
“It’s a different dynamic that I don’t know about trying to be an NFL quarterback and then maybe having some of these substance abuse issues. He says he’s fine, he’s been to treatment, I don’t know what for. When this happened last year, I thought that was the greatest thing. Imagine if I would have done that, just to get behavioral counseling when I was in my second year when things were falling off the rails. I thought, wow, that’s a great thing. And sometimes, things just start to spiral and maybe a year – you gotta be out of football for a year. You gotta get your stuff right, because though this is a great game, and it’s an institution in this country, it’s fleeting. It’s gone in a second. Everybody’s not like Peyton Manning who can play 18 seasons.”
Leaf fell into substance abuse after his playing career and spent time in prison, though he seems to have turned his life around. He probably has as good an idea as anyone as to what that struggle is like, and it makes it all the more concerning when we hear things like refusal of treatment from Manziel’s father. The way things are going, Manziel may soon find out what it’s like to be out of football for a while.
