Just a random question that had crossed my mind.

I was reading an article over on PFT about Ryan Leaf, and it seems he's getting his life a little more on track, which is good for him.

However, it got me thinking...does he get a raw deal compared to some other 1st picks?

I mean, he's know to many as the biggest bust of all time.  However, is that a fair judgment?

He played 25 games in this league, according to NFL.com, and obviously did not do well at all.  Even us Cowboys fans know about ol' Ryan.  What about a few other guys though, not even at a different position, at QB?  I took a look at Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, and Alex Smith...and was kind of shocked by what I found.  Well, kind of.  I had a sneaking suspicion about this anyway.

Heres what I'm going to do, I'm going to post the stats of these three QB's with out names...and without looking I want you to guess who is who...

QB 1

Com     Att     Pct        Yrd     Avg     TD     Int      QB Rat.

302      583   51.9    3626     6        17     18       62.0

QB 2

Com     Att     Pct        Yrd      Avg     TD      Int     QB Rat.

317      655   48.4      3666    5.6     14      36       50.0

QB 3

Com     Att     Pct        Yrd        Avg      TD     Int     QB Rat.

341      607   54.5      3765     5.9       17     27       57.8

None of them look good in the least.

If you guessed

QB 1 = JaMarcus Russell.

QB 2 = Ryan Leaf.

QB 3 = Alex Smith. 

Then you are correct.

Maybe Leaf didn't get a bad deal?

I don't think there is actually much difference.  When push comes to shove, you aren't going to win many games with any of the QB's listed.

JaMarcus Russell =  7 wins - 18 losses

Ryan Leaf  = 4 wins - 21 losses 

Alex Smith = 9 wins -  16 losses

So yeah, Ryan Leaf  *is* probably the worst QB, at least out of these 3.

However, I'd probably have to lean toward Alex Smith being a worse QB through his first 25 than Russell, even though Smith came through with 2 more wins.

I guess with those two, you have to say "Who did what with what" as in...who had the better team, and still played QB like that though the first 25 games.

*Disclaimer

These stats only represent through the first 25 games, as that was only as many as Leaf had played.  Alex Smith is still going with 54 games and Russell was out of the league after only 31 games.

Maybe Russell was the one who got the raw deal?  Of course, with the attitude..he was bound to follow the same path the Leaf did.