Chargers Leaf Not Blooming

Some of the San Diego Chargers are wondering if Ryan Leaf will ever get it.

Leaf was back in the team's fold Monday, mostly repentant about skipping the first three days of a voluntary summer workout session in order to honor charity commitments, some of which involved golf tournaments.

Some veterans weren't exactly understanding, and said they plan to sit down soon to spell it out for Leaf, the $31.25 million quarterback who was benched after nine starts last year.

"It's time to grow up," linebacker Lew Bush said. "Be a leader."

Bush clearly is growing weary of Leaf's antics. Although these workouts are voluntary, most of the Chargers are here. The organization felt Leaf needed to be here the whole time to try to overcome his disastrous rookie season and because new coach Mike Riley continues to put in his offense.

But Leaf was absent when the workouts began last Wednesday. They resumed Monday and continue through Thursday.

"I regret that it happened," Leaf said. "I felt the coaches knew I wasn't going to be here; coach Riley thought it would just be Friday. It was just a miscommunication on both our parts. I'm going to take responsibility for it."

"But I won't take back the fact I was in Orlando for the Children's Miracle Network. That was real positive. Anytime they ever ask me to do that again, I really want to."

Still, Bush and running back Natrone Means were literally shaking their heads at Leaf's sense of priorities coming off a 5-11 season during which he melted down on and off the field.

"Youth is one thing, ignorance is another," Bush said. "Hey, I don't want to be here. I've got a whole lot better things than this right now. But after our season last year, our season before that and we gave up a lot to get him."

"I don't think we're asking too much. I think it's time he's going to have to start kicking back to us. Hey, the little growing pains are over."

Means, one of the few starters left from San Diego's 1994 Super Bowl team, said the players made a big mistake last year in not talking to Leaf about his blunders on and off the field.

"I'm not going to wait like I did last year," Means said. "I think last year we let a lot of stuff go. Way too much stuff."

Means said he doesn't intend the meeting with Leaf to be confrontational.

"The only way we're going to win is as a group," he said. "It was proven last year. Here we are with the No. 1 defense and up to a point we had the No. 2 rushing offense. But we still weren't a group and we weren't winning."

"Until this is ingrained in him hey, the only way we're going to be able to do it is togetherness it's not going to happen."

San Diego had the NFL's 24th-ranked offense. Leaf threw just two touchdown passes while throwing 15 interceptions and losing four fumbles.

Mans said Leaf's absence last week was a distraction, with players wondering, `Who is Ryan not to be here?'

"It's not like we're coming off the Super Bowl year," Means said. "It's not like we just got done tearing it up as the highest scoring offense in the NFL. We need the work. That's the bottom line. Everybody needs the work."

Leaf, who's been replaced by Jim Harbaugh as the starter, said sitting down with some of the veterans "would be a welcome change to me. No one talked to me before. I felt kind of isolated."

Means said there is still a tremendous upside to Leaf's career.

"That's what we're here for, is to get him to that upside. We could use a little help."

Riley said he had a productive talk with Leaf, mostly about avoiding situations like this.

Riley noted that Leaf's antics mostly happened before he was hired in January.

"If we have one glitch since January, that's pretty good," Riley said. "That's a lot better than I do with my own kids."

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