Leigh Steinberg claims that he and his former client, Ryan Leaf, manipulated the 1998 NFL draft by convincing the Colts to pass on Leaf and select Peyton Manning first overall. The owner of the Colts says that’s nonsense.
Jim Irsay says that while Steinberg and Leaf may have agreed in advance to skip a meeting with the Colts, that had nothing to do with the Colts’ decision to draft Manning instead of Leaf. Instead, Irsay says, the Colts simply thought Manning was going to be a better pro quarterback than Leaf.
“I read something where [Leaf] purposely missed that meeting with Mora and that’s what affected what we were going to do; that’s a bunch of BS,” Irsay told the Indianapolis Star. “This was a football decision. [Missing the meeting] wasn’t even a factor.”
Irsay thinks Steinberg is just trying to drum up some attention for his autobiography.
“Leigh is writing a [bleeping] book so I guess he’s got to get out there and promote it,” Irsay said.
Steinberg is certainly getting a lot of attention for his book. And Irsay just gave him some more attention.