For some reason, this feels like I’m admitting to something bad. But it isn’t bad at all.

I like Ryan Leaf.

No, I’ve never met the Great Falls native, whose fame and infamy are known far and wide. I only had a couple of brief, somewhat contentions conversations with him over Twitter.

Most people know Ryan as an NFL Draft bust. The NFL Network, apparently paying no attention to the Chicago Bears’ draft history, says he was the biggest bust of all time when he was picked by the San Diego Chargers No. 2 overall in the 1998 NFL Draft.

His name was called one spot behind Peyton Manning, who was so good that he is still on every other television commercial. Ryan was so bad that his name is still mentioned leading up to the NFL Draft every April.

Making things worse is his complex relationship with his home state. Ryan seems to proudly wear the fact that he is not popular among Montanans on his sleeve. He says we don’t like him, and he doesn’t like us.

“That place didn’t raise me, that place shamed me,” Ryan said recently on Twitter.

When I replied that I always cheered for him, Ryan shot back, “Yeah, sure.”

It’s true. I really did cheer for him. I even cheered for him when he played for the Dallas Cowboys.

I cheered as he led Washington State to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years following the 1997 season. I thought he seemed like a bit of a jerk, but he was a jerk from Montana. He was our jerk.

It still bugs me that Ryan didn’t get one more chance to throw the football into the end zone in that 21-16 loss to Michigan in Pasadena. Ryan led the Cougars to the Michigan 26-yard line, and the clock was stopped to move the chains with 2 seconds left.

Ryan spiked the ball to stop the clock, which should have stopped at 1 second. Washington State should have had one more play. The clock ran out on the spike, however, and the game was over.

Pretty much everybody I know in Montana was cheering for Ryan that day, even though he made it clear he no longer considered himself to be from Montana.

In his defense, Ryan was only 21 at the time. It must have been brutal trying to escape the shadow of the Great Dave Dickenson, who was just a few years ahead of Ryan at Great Falls Russell.

While Ryan won a state title at CMR, Dickenson won two. Dickenson was everybody’s All-American. As good as he was on the field, he was even better off of it. He was polite, friendly and never caused any controversy.

Ryan was big, bold and loud. He never shied away from any controversy. He trashed Montana after getting his first college playing time in Washington State’s 1995 win over Montana in Pullman.

However, Super Dave went on to lead the Grizzlies to the NCAA I-AA national championship that season, cementing his legacy as a winner and hero. Not-so super Ryan was remembered for hating his home state.

He became the anti-hero, first in Montana and then around the sporting world.

During the Rose Bowl season, Ryan threw a ball that nearly hit a reporter at practice. He said he wanted to “buzz the tower” — a reference to the movie “Top Gun”— of the reporter who wrote something Ryan didn’t like.

SportsCenter showed Ryan yelling at a reporter early in his NFL rookie season that turned sour in a hurry.

Had Ryan been successful with that personality, we would have been dismissed him as being excentric. We might have even gotten a glimpse of that had he been drafted by a better organization or if he would have stayed to play his senior season at Washington State.

Instead, he went to an awful Chargers organization (at the time), and he was written off as a jerk. He was so very easy to dislike, mock and ridicule, and his home state definitely reveled in that.

All those bad things Ryan said and did, though, were not criminal. Most of them could be chalked up to immaturity. It wasn’t until his short-lived NFL career flamed out that Ryan got in trouble with the law.

Here’s another statement that feels like an admittance, even though it shouldn’t. I admire Ryan Leaf. They guy has some guts.

A drug addiction that was directly related to the culture of the NFL led to multiple highly-publicized arrests, and Ryan ended up serving time in the Montana State Prison.

He hit rock bottom, but he bounced back up in a big way.

He could have crawled into a hole after he left prison, but instead he focused on helping others while he got himself clean. He opened up about his addiction, helping countless people, young and old, with his honesty.

Ryan was brave, and he continues to be brave. That is something that is recognized far and wide. That includes some of us in his home state.

Others still like to point at young Ryan Leaf. They still like to mock him like he’s still the cocky kid from 1998. They still laugh at his arrests. That percentage of mockers is probably higher in Montana than it is in the rest of the country, and that is too bad.

It is time for the Treasure State to offer an olive branch to Ryan Leaf, and vice versa.

“I like my life without MT as I’m sure they love it without me, win/win,” Ryan said on Twitter.

Actually, that is a loss for everybody. But hopefully that sentiment is not irreversible.

In 2017, Ryan wrote a story titled “Letter to My Younger Self” in The Players’ Tribune. In it, he told 21-year-old Ryan, “Don’t be a dick, man.”

Ryan of his late 40s could probably heed that advice a little more. He still trashes Montana, and he turned down an invitation to join the Montana Football Hall of Fame.

He has also been relentlessly trolling Montana Grizzly fans since the Griz lost to Montana State in Bozeman.

Some of the shots are fair because Griz fans are the kings and queens of changing their pronouns. They strut into the stadium thumping their chests and talking about “we” and “us,” then they leave early from a loss complaining about “they” and “them.”

Sure, every fan base does that. Griz fans, though, seem to do it more than most.

Ryan’s trolling has been a bit puzzling and non-stop. But Griz fans could lightened up a bit about the ribbing.

They should not be so personally rude in their replies on Twitter because Ryan is clearly joking. His counter punches to vile comments, though, are worth looking up. He is smart, fast and funny.

Ryan also doesn’t give a rip what people think of him. As a guy who worshiped Jim McMahon as a child (and as an adult), I truly appreciate that. That is a quality that might not make you win any popularity contests, but it probably leads to inner peace.

Ryan is also is a damn good football announcer. You should hear his killer call on the radio as he watched the Bears melt down on Thanksgiving in Detroit.

I would take Ryan over Tony Romo or Marty Mornhinweg in a heartbeat.

No, Ryan Leaf is not Peyton Manning. He is no Dave Dickenson. But he is one of the greatest athletes to ever come out of Montana. It is about time that we all get past the personal hard feelings and remember him as such.

We should focus less on that “draft bust” label and speak of Ryan’s success in high school and college. Even more, we should recognize his incredible success in rising from the ashes of rock bottom.

Then, maybe, Ryan will someday admit that he likes us, too.

 — Bill Foley, who knows what it is like to be labeled a jerk, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.