1998 NFL Draft 20 years later: Revisiting Peyton Manning vs. Ryan Leaf

Coming out of Tennessee in 1998, Peyton Manning had to fend off Ryan Leaf for the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. It clearly worked out 20 years later.

With the 2018 NFL Draft underway, it has now been 20 years since Peyton Manning was taken No. 1 overall by the Indianapolis Colts. One Hall of Fame career and one legendary bust later, it’s the perfect time to revisit a debate that now seems laughable.

To understand the Manning vs. Ryan Leaf debate, you actually have to go back to December of 1997. The Vols were the No. 3 team in the country and were riding on Cloud Nine after beating the Auburn Tigers to win the SEC Championship.

They were headed to the Orange Bowl to face the No. 2 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers with an outside shot at the national title.On top of all this, they had a chance to see their favorite son win the Heisman Trophy the next week.

Expecting Manning to win the Heisman, Vols fans turned their attention to the Rose Bowl, which featured the No. 1 ranked Michigan Wolverines against the Washington State Cougars, who were quarterbacked by Leaf. To win the national title, Tennessee would need Leaf to come through against Michigan and then they would have to beat Nebraska.

After winning the SEC title, Vols fans put the same misplaced faith in Leaf that NFL teams would months later. They also put misplaced faith in Heisman voters.

A week later, Manning lost the Heisman to Michigan’s Charles Woodson. Less than a month later, they watched Leaf fail to deliver against Michigan, losing 21-17. A day later, Tennessee lost to Nebraska 42-17, with Manning suffering an injury and the defense unable to stop the run.

No national title and no Heisman Trophy were in store for Manning. Moving to April of 1998, the same two quarterbacks who couldn’t deliver against the co-national champions were now in a competition to see who would go No. 1.

Manning was the polished pocket-passer. Leaf was the athletic guy with the big arm. Although Manning was the sure bet, it seemed that Leaf had the higher ceiling. It was branded as John Elway-Dan Marino part two. Those two were both drafted in 1983.

Ironically, in 2012, the Indianapolis Colts would be in the same position with Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III in the NFL Draft. As people agree they did that year, they made the right choice in 1998. Indy chose Manning, and as we all know, the rest is history.

There were numerous articles written in favor of Leaf during this time. However, The New York Times noted here that it was more about who would have more support around them.

To be fair, there’s some truth to that. Manning would have been great wherever he went because of who he was. But, despite being fired four years later, Jim Mora earned a ton of credit for letting Manning mess up and continuing to support him through his abysmal first year.

The opposite happened with Leaf. The San Diego Chargers gave up an arm and a leg to get that second pick in the NFL Draft to get him. As a result, they would never be able to put the talent around him. On top of that, San Diego expected him to win immediately.

Leaf actually had the stronger start than Manning. But things went south quickly. The minute they did, the fans, coaches, executives and teammates all turned on him. Yes, Leaf did not handle it well, cursing out people in the locker room and shutting himself off.

Still, he was put in a very difficult situation with San Diego. And Manning did have the full organization. That’s always been my takeaway.

Next: 5 Vols who should've been drafted in the NFL

As we revisit this 20 years later, the debate seems as funny now as it did back in 2003, by the time Leaf had already flamed out and Manning was an MVP. Tennessee football fans laugh at it more than anybody. The anti-Manning sentiment came as a perceived northern media bias, which sparked the Heisman robbery and the NFL Draft Manning-Leaf debate. They were clearly wrong about Manning and Leaf. But the gap didn’t have to be that big.

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