When you think about the top draft busts in NFL history, one of the first names that almost always comes to mind is former Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf. 

After being taken with the second overall pick in the 1998 draft, Leaf spent three disastrous seasons in San Diego before the Chargers eventually just decided to give up on him. After being released by the Chargers in 2001, Leaf ended up playing just one more season in the NFL and was out of the league completely by 2002. It was a dramatic fall for a quarterback who had been so highly-touted coming out of college. 

Apparently, Leaf doesn't want to see anyone else become a draft bust, which might explain why he had some interesting advice for Sam Darnold this week. It's advice that everyone in Cleveland is going to hate. 

During an interview with Colin Cowherd, Leaf said that Darnold should pull an "Eli Manning" and refuse to play for the Browns. 

"If I were Sam Darnold and I have this leverage right now, and I know I'm going to be the first pick in the NFL Draft, I'm going to my agent and I'm saying, 'Figure out a way for me to not to go Cleveland. Eli Manning this for me,'" Leaf said. "I don't know if you have the collateral behind you to do something like John Elway or Eli Manning did."

Let's do a quick refresher on the Eli Manning draft drama, just in case you need it: The Chargers wanted to take Eli Manning with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 draft, but Eli didn't want to play for the Chargers, so he told them he would sit out the entire season if they selected him. Manning's ploy worked perfectly: Although the Chargers selected him with the top pick, they ended up trading him to the Giants since they knew he would never suit up for San Diego.

The one upside to all this drama is that it gave us the best draft picture of all-time. 

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Eli Manning was not a happy camper when the Chargers drafted him.  Getty Images

On Elway's end, the Baltimore Colts wanted to take him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1983 draft, but Elway didn't want to play for the Colts, so he told them he would quit football and play baseball if they selected him. Once again, the ploy worked to perfection: Although the Colts selected him with the top pick, they ended up trading him to the Broncos since they knew he would never suit up in Baltimore.

Leaf wants Darnold to follow in their footsteps, and that's basically because he seems to believe that there's no upside to being drafted by the Browns. 

"Tell me this, if he goes there and they triple their win total this year and they win three games next year, how does Hue Jackson not get fired?" Leaf said. "So now you have a new head coach and probably a new system and now you're behind the eight-ball even more."

Although Leaf's advice, as mathematically wrong as it is, was specifically for Darnold -- who's being eyed by the Browns -- it sounds like his advice on avoiding Cleveland is actually applicable to every quarterback in the draft. 

"I don't want anybody to be a bust, I want them to be successful," Leaf said. "There is no evidence to show me that Cleveland is going to be successful. It's a place where quarterbacks go to die. How many quarterbacks [have they had]? Twenty-seven quarterbacks in the last 10 years?"

If there's ever a vote for least popular person in Cleveland, Leaf might win it after this interview. After saying Cleveland is the city where quarterbacks go to die, Leaf mentioned another problem. 

"It's the culture," Leaf said. "I'm worried that [Darnold will] just gets lost in the shuffle like all quarterbacks have going into Cleveland."

The good news for the Browns is that even if Darnold listens to Leaf, there's still at least one quarterback out there who would be willing to play for them. In a recent interview with Bill Reiter on CBS Sports HQ's "Reiter's Block," Baker Mayfield said playing for the Browns would be an "incredible situation." 

"That'd be an incredible situation for me," Mayfield said. "They're making the right moves, they're bringing in the right guys, they're really turning it around. You know, whether I'm on that team or not, I'm excited to see how it turns out, because their guys are working for it and I'm excited to watch."

Most of our writers here at CBSSports.com don't seem to think that Darnold will be taking Leaf's advice. Out of six mock drafts currently on our site, four of them have Darnold headed to Cleveland. You can check out those mock drafts, along with all of our draft coverage, by clicking here.