ssmitty

Bush still best talent in draft


By Vic Carucci
National Editor, NFL.com


NEW YORK (April 29, 2006) -- I'm still trying to sort this out.

Not because it torpedoed my mock draft along with countless others. I'm long over that.

I'm just trying to figure out why the best player in the draft is not the top overall pick.


Mario Williams might have been chosen No. 1 overall ...
No offense to Mario Williams. He can be a difference-making, game-changing force. I just don't think he will be as much of a difference-making, game-changing force as Reggie Bush.

Williams plays defensive end, and the Houston Texans will no doubt make good use of his considerable pass-rushing and run-stopping skills.

But Bush is much more than a player at a position, which happens to be running back. He can make an impact running with the ball or catching it or just standing still and forcing the opposing defense to guess what he might do on a given play -- and be unprepared to handle what someone else actually does.

Bush is a dynamic presence, the likes of which come along only once per decade.

You simply can't pass up a chance to select such a player. Well, you can, and the Texans did.

But doing so is a risk. Actually, it is a massive gamble.

Bush video


Reggie Bush on being selected by the Saints with the No. 2 pick
Click here to watch

Head coach Sean Payton on choosing Bush
Click here to watch

That's because, at least for the coming season and very likely beyond, the Texans will be dogged by a question: Why? Why did you give up the chance to draft someone who could have done so much to help a struggling young franchise possibly take a major step forward?

The only way the question won't be asked, or at least won't be raised with the same degree of derisive second-guessing, is if Bush flops with theam that did choose him, the Saints. I don't expect that to happen.

I have talked to numerous people who are paid to evaluate college prospects for NFL teams. All of them pegged Bush not only as the best this draft had to offer, but the best that many drafts in recent years have had to offer.

I did not hear similar comments about Williams. I heard plenty of good things about what he should do in the NFL, and that he has the tremendous size, speed and strength that any team would love to have in a defensive end. I heard favorable comparisons to Carolina's Julius Peppers, arguably the best and most complete defensive end in the game.

What I didn't hear were comparisons to some of the greatest defensive ends in the history of the game -- someone like, say, Bruce Smith, whom the Buffalo Bills made the top overall pick in 1985 and who went on to become the league's all-time sack leader with a reserved spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

On the other hand, I heard plenty of comparisons between Bush and running backs such as Gale Sayers and Marshall Faulk.


... but Reggie Bush is still considered the best talent in the draft.
I think the Texans are sincere in their belief that Williams was the better choice. I don't think it was simply a case of choosing the guy who was easier to sign.

The Texans made a football decision. They concluded that he would do more for their defense, and, therefore, more for their team than Bush could do for an offense that already has a decent running back in Domanick Davis and the X-and-O prowess of new coach Gary Kubiak to get the most out all of the incumbent offensive players, especially quarterback David Carr.

In the end, owner Bob McNair and general manager Charley Casserly decided that Bush wasn't going to make the sort of difference to justify the top overall pick and the many millions of dollars that go with it.

I respect that. I also respectfully disagree.

dwiley21

Hey, I respect their decision as well cuz it means THE SAINS GOT BUSH, and we DIDN"T TAKE MARIO!!!