Ryan Leaf wants to help the top quarterbacks in this year’s draft class fall into the bust trap — and to do so, he thinks they need to avoid the Cleveland Browns.
On Thursday, Leaf told FS1’s The Herd that, if he were advising a top quarterback, he’d tell them to do anything they could to avoid landing in Cleveland, which has struggled to develop a franchise quarterback.
“I don’t want anybody to be a bust,” Leaf said, via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk. “I want them to be successful. And there is no evidence to show me that Cleveland is going to be successful. It’s a place where quarterbacks go to die. How many quarterbacks — 27 quarterbacks in the last 10 years? If I were Sam Darnold and I have this leverage right now and I know I’m going to be the first pick in the NFL Draft, I’m going to my agent and saying, ‘Figure out a way for me to not to go Cleveland. Eli Manning this for me.’
“Do something like John Elway or Eli Manning did. What if he plays five years there and is mediocre because they never win?”
It doesn’t seem like anyone is going to follow Leaf’s advice. One of the top quarterbacks has already made clear that he thinks he has it in him to turn things around in Cleveland.
