This day in sports history: The Chargers take Ryan Leaf at No. 2 as part of an epically bad draft
By now, you know all about the mistake the then-San Diego Chargers made 22 years ago when the franchise chose Ryan Leaf with the No. 2 pick in the 1998 NFL draft.
Leaf was selected after the Indianapolis Colts took Peyton Manning, a quarterback who led the franchise to a Super Bowl title and became one of the best signal-callers in NFL history. Leaf, meanwhile, played just 25 games through 2001 and threw 14 touchdowns and 36 interceptions.
The Chargers could have taken three other first-round picks who are, or likely will be, Hall of Famers with that choice. Defensive back Charles Woodson went No. 4 to the Oakland Raiders. Wide receiver Randy Moss fell all the way to the Minnesota Vikings at No. 21. The Pittsburgh Steelers got guard Alan Faneca at No. 26. Any of those three players could have been a Chargers icon.
While the Leaf pick lives forever in NFL infamy, the Chargers whiffed on every pick they had in the draft and made some terrible trades. And let me tell you, that draft was really, really good.
35 Pro Bowlers in 1998 draft class
The Chargers initially had the No. 3 pick in the draft and moved up to No. 2 to take Leaf. The Chargers gave up No. 3, a first-round pick in 1999 (wide receiver David Boston), the No. 33 pick in the 1998 draft (defensive back Corey Chavous), running back Eric Metcalf and linebacker Patrick Sapp.
Chavous turned out to be one of the 31 players drafted in 1998 to make at least one Pro Bowl. Four others — kickers Phil Dawson and Mike Vanderjagt, linebacker London Fletcher and center Jeff Saturday — became Pro Bowlers after signing as undrafted free agents. That 1998 class was deep.
Meanwhile, the six players the Chargers drafted in 1998 played a combined 114 games.
Eighty-two of those games were played by tight end Mikhael Ricks. Ricks, who was picked at No. 59, had 155 catches for 1,939 yards and eight touchdowns over his six-year NFL career.
The Chargers got that pick by trading their first-round selection in the 2000 NFL draft to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (The Bucs ended up using that pick in a package to get Keyshawn Johnson).
One pick after Ricks, the Detroit Lions selected quarterback Charlie Batch. He would have turned out to be an improvement over Leaf (though almost anyone would have been). The Bears drafted Olin Kreutz five picks after Ricks. Jeremiah Trotter got picked 13 selections after the Chargers went with Ricks.
San Diego didn’t have a third- or fourth-round pick because of other trades and thus missed out on players like running back Ahman Green and wide receiver Hines Ward along with another quarterback in Brian Griese who turned out to have a better career than Leaf. Their next pick was at No. 126 in the fifth round.
That pick was defensive end Cedric Harden. He played in five games and totaled a half sack. The Eagles chose linebacker Ike Reese 16 picks later. He made the Pro Bowl as a special teams ace in 2004.
With pick No. 155, the Chargers took cornerback Clifford Ivory. He never played in an NFL game before continuing his career in NFL Europe and the Canadian Football League. The Vikings took Matt Birk 18 picks later. Birk made six Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams.
The Chargers’ seventh-round picks were linebacker Jon Haskins (two career games) and wide receiver Kio Sanford. While no other seventh-rounders made a Pro Bowl, the Chargers could have filled a linebacker need and taken Fletcher instead of Haskins in that spot. After all, Fletcher only made four Pro Bowls and played in just 256 consecutive games in a 16-year career.
While Leaf and Manning will forever be its story line, the 1998 draft might have been the deepest of the decade. And all the Chargers got out of it outside of one of the biggest draft busts in modern NFL history was a backup tight end. That’s a brutal haul and a big reason why the Chargers haven’t been back to a Super Bowl since 1995.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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