Which Reggie Bush scenario would you like to see happen?
 

Owing to Reggie Bush's recent tweets regarding the draft and the lockout, much speculation has been made in the media regarding his supposed desire to leave the New Orleans Saints following their first-round drafting of Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mark Ingram.

But what do you, the New Orleans Saints fan, like to see happen to Reggie Bush this year? Basically, there are five options to consider:

1. Reggie Bush stays with the Saints, as one of the lead running backs.
2. Reggie Bush stays with the Saints, as a situational running back only.
3. Reggie Bush stays with the Saints, and the coaches convert him into a wide receiver.
4. Reggie Bush leaves the Saints, in exchange for one or more draft picks in next years draft.
5. Reggie Bush leaves the Saints, in exchange for a player of the same caliber in a different position (offensive lineman for instance).


I know a lot of people believe that Reggie Bush is a "bust," but I would disagree with this. In his rookie year, he amassed over 1,300 yards from scrimmage with 8 touchdowns. Those are pretty awesome numbers. And that was when we still had a productive Deuce McCallister. Yes, Reggie became more of a situational player after we acquired Pierre Thomas and yes, he's had his share of injuries, but I think he would have had to do significantly worse than he has in order to qualify as a "bust." And let's not forget his incredible performances in the Super Bowl run of the 2009 season. You want bust? Jonathan Sullivan. Now there's a bust for you.

I realize that a lot of folks out there will probably look at my number three option - convert Bush into a wide receiver - and laugh. But I would argue that this is the correct option for four reasons:

1. Reggie Bush actually has more receiving yards than rushing yards in his NFL career. If you don't believe me, go to NFL.com and look it up.
2. Reggie Bush is still super fast and is hard to cover as a receiver.
3. Reggie Bush has a similar build to other wide receivers, like Devery Henderson, for instance
4. We need a breath of fresh air at the wide receiver position anyway and Reggie is already familiar with the Saints' offensive system and has chemsitry with Brees.

So I say let's keep Reggie Bush for around 2.5 million this season plus incentives and convert him into a wide receiver. He's always been a better receiver than rusher anyway!

1. Reggie Bush actually has more receiving yards than rushing yards in his NFL career. If you don't believe me, go to NFL.com and look it up.

Because most of his receptions are swing passes at or very near the LOS.

2. Reggie Bush is still super fast and is hard to cover as a receiver.

Yet he never outruns anyone and rarely catches anything downfield. Wake me up when he breaks a long run.

3. Reggie Bush has a similar build to other wide receivers, like Devery Henderson, for instance.

Agreed, but he's never played WR and its not an easy position to learn. Numerous WR's as fast as Reggie used to be, never make it in the NFL, and they've played the position for years.

4. We need a breath of fresh air at the wide receiver position anyway and Reggie is already familiar with the Saints' offensive system and has chemsitry with Brees.

Why do you think we need a breath of fresh air at WR? We're loaded at WR.

Bush does have experience being the dump-off option and receiving easy to catch swing passes but has never played WR. He couldn't beat out Arrington as our 5th WR. When's the last time you saw Reggie dive to catch a pass? Ever?


Reggie is a scat back, and not a very good punt returner. Its all he'll ever be.

I think Devery Henderson would have more success converting to our scat back RB than Bush would converting to a legit WR.

What Danno said.

If Reggie stays he will keep his current position. Not WR or CB or QB.
RB. He continues to get less touches each year when he's actually healthy so if the Saints can get something appealing from another team, reggiebushmustgo.com.

And I don't know many people that consider Reggie Bush a bust.

6. Reggie Bush gets cut.

I wanted to choose that one but I went with 4. The problem with moving Reggie to WR is that it's virtually the same thing with keeping him at running back. That's all he was doing running dump offs and making minimal gains out the back field... a poor slot receiver basically. Moving him outside in my opinion minimizes the "decoy" factor he has coming out the backfield. He then becomes predictable and immediately replaceable on our roster.

Reggie thinks he's under-utilized and better than he really is. Could he be? It's possible... and the only way for him to find out, is to go to a team where his touches will not be limited as it is here. We don't have a single player on our roster that dominates the ball offensively... and it won't happen anytime soon. Reggie has 4 or 5 more years in this league and he already has a SuperBowl ring. He's not looking for a 1 year contract where he won't be able to maximize his production earning him that one last big contract. While it's a nice idea to keep him around because of how "important" he is to our offense, a stretch to say in my opinion, drafting Ingram pretty much sealed his fate. There is nothing Reggie can do that replacing him with Thomas in all of his sets will cause us our offense to regress.. In all honestly, we'd probably be even more productive.

Some of his recpetions are swing passes. Many of them are down the seam.

Wide receiver is difficult to learn yet running back is not? Many tight ends in the NFL used to be running backs or wideouts. Some wideouts in the NFL used to be quarterbacks. Many cornerbacks in the NFL used to be wideouts and so on. I think someone can learn a new position, especially if he's already somewhat familiar with it.

Some of our wideouts are getting old. Some of them didn't perform up to expectations last year. Henderson and Meachem spring to mind. Both WR's had horrible drops last season. Meachem has had surgery for two years runnning and so has Colston. Henderson had sports hernia surgery last season. The only WR we have that I feel absolutely confident in to stay on the field is Lance Moore. And I wish we would try Arrington a few more times. He was very good in limited play during the season finale.

Bush dove to catch a beautiful pass in the playoff game against the Cardinals. I don't believe he should be doing kick returns anymore due to his propensity to fumble (see Cowboys, 49ers last season). If he were converted into a WR, maybe you would see him dive to catch more balls.

Regarding his ability to outrun anyone - this is exactly the point I'm trying to make. He doesn't work as a running back because when there's a row of defenders trying to stop him from running the ball, he becomes confused or he becomes too cute or he runs out of bounds. He wouldn't have that problem at wideout because he only has to beat one or two people. He is still exceptionally fast when he has an open field as evidenced in the playoff game versus the Cardinals. He basically missed all of last season, so there's really nothing from that season to talk about. He ran a 40 time of 4.38 and that's as fast as anyone else we have on the team.

Well said. Especially agree with the red I highlighted above.

6) Reggie gets cut & gets a job selling hot dogs in the dome. :)

Reggie broke off some nice runs in the final game of the year, when he wasn't competing with anyone else for carries. He is not an every-down back and never had been but I believe there is definite value in keeping him.

6.) Reggie gets cut...... "Welcome to the NEW McKenzie's Bakery, home of the Buttermilk Drops, Turtles, King Cakes and MMM MMM, Apple Pies"

Oh yeah, Mike McKenzie will re-open the local bakery.
http://cajunchefryan.rymocs.com/imag...nzies_Logo.jpghttp://chicksinthehuddle.com/wp-cont...e-mckenzie.jpg

Reggie stays as a situational running back and occasional slot receiver, as well as kick and punt returner. He takes a HUGE pay cut and keeps his mouth shut. Sounds like the perfect scenario.