Ryan Leaf knows all about not being a success in the National Football League after being touted as a great QB coming out of college.
The former San Diego Chargers quarterback listed his top-five quarterbacks in the draft on the Pat McAfee radio show, but as he ran down his list, the former punter noted that he had forgotten former Alabama star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on the list.
There was a reason for that.
“I have reservations around him at the next level,” Leaf said on the show. “And it has nothing to do with his personality, his ability. There’s something, it’s in my gut that it’s not going to translate to the NFL.”
“The inability to make it through a season in the SEC and the type of injuries – the surgeries that exist with the best type of talent around him. If you go to the Detroit Lions and Matt Patricia, you’re not going to be protected. Just look at Matthew Stafford who got beat up. That’s something that could happen. I don’t even know where I put him [on my list of top quarterbacks in the draft]. If I don’t think he’s going to be a success at the NFL level, how can I throw him in there at No. 5?”
Despite what he might think, Tua is expected to be the second QB taken off the board after Joe Burrow.
