Moving On from Reggie Bush

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Moving On from Reggie Bush

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Consider it done.

Key Moments
Being drafted no.2 by New Orleans - At the time Bush was disappointed to be drafted by a small market team as oppose to Houston. New Orleans was a franchise that had been nowhere and appeared to be heading out of town based off the horrendous 2005 season and the turmoil the city was in. Bush came to New Orleans in the midst of the aftermath of Katrina and in the middle of a regime change with a roster full of outcasts and players that were castoffs from other rosters. After a call from Drew, Reggie was more open and willing to give it a shot here and see what could happen. He instantly revitalized the fan base and inspired hope for the future. For one of the first times ever we were given a national audience and coverage based pretty much off his presence alone.
2006, He may not have been the all-star caliber player many envisioned would be however he was a key cog in this offense and many teams respected him more than any other player on our offense. He constantly was drawing defenders into open space and was always being accounted for opening things up for the rest of the offense. His contributions to the scheme and game plan had a direct reflection on our team’s success that year.
2007-2008 while disappointing as a whole Reggie was productive and helped in leading the Saints to being recognized as one of the top offensive teams in the NFL.
2009 - Simply put…Miami.
Overall analysis
While Bush may not have been the player that everyone was expecting him to be, he was every bit the player the Saints needed at the time to give us credibility and help jump start the current state of the franchise. He had just as much invested into this team to make the turnaround as anyone. His presence in the community is exactly what someone would have expected from a key member but in no way should anyone feel entitled to those services. He chose to give up his time, donate his money, and make a real contribution to the youth of this city. I remember days where he would always be the last guy into the practice facility because he was standing out sweating in that Louisiana heat signing kid’s autographs while everyone else was bringing it in to the A/C. Bush wanted out to pursue an opportunity elsewhere to try to live up to the expectations set for him by the media, fans, and himself. The personal attacks need to stop because without him we would not be where we are. This man was great for us as a whole and we need to remember the big picture instead of giving him grief over something so frivolous as tweets, and other nonsense. He wanted to be the player that we wanted him to be and unlike Charles Grant and countless others his inability to meet those expectations had nothing to do with his effort, sleeping with a teammate’s wife, bad mouthing our city, etc. He has tried to remain a class act through everything and I think he deserves that back from us as well as he moves on to the next stage of his career. I wish him the best and will always remember the times while he was here because quite frankly they were some of the best years this Team and City has ever had.

"I've decided to take my dancing talents to South Beach"



I think I just made my new sig quote

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Yeah, cause dude could have pulled an Eli Manning and held out if the Saints drafted him.

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This. We were perhaps the worst possible franchise at that time; coming off 3-13 season, post-Ka..(can't write that name!), Benson seemed to want to move to San Antonio or anywhere, with a rookie head coach coming in and lots of bad blood everywhere. Brees was picked off the scrap heap and we were the only team desperate enough to give him a chance. People didn't even know for sure if the Dome would be ready for the upcoming season, or if there would be more than 15,000 fans there.

Bush was Mr LA Superstar and he easily could have thrown a fit, and no one outside La would have blamed him. Instead, despite being a young kid who seemingly had everything handed to him (and it seems moreso now), he jumped in with both feet. He may never have reached our expectations or his own personal goals, but he was perfect in the way he handled himself.
Was positive about the city. Never bitched about playing behind Deuce. Never pouted when Brees, not he, emerged as the savior. Even little things like holding the baseball bat running out onto the field in the playoffs in 09, when it clear by then he was only a peripheral part of the team's schemes.

Reggie was a good guy, better than I tend to give him credit for, and I'm pretty sure he handled disappointment better than most of us would have. But he just never panned out as a player for us, not as the #2 pick in the draft.

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Was positive about the city. Never bitched about playing behind Deuce. Never pouted when Brees, not he, emerged as the savior

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This. Another point is I don't recall anyone ever questioning his work ethic or passion for the game. He never got into trouble during his time in New Orleans and he did what he was asked to the best of his abilities. The guy stayed hurt, well that's not something he chose to do i'm sure. He never once CLAIMED to be worthy of the #2 overall pick or the best running back on the team. He was a vital piece of the rebuilding of a franchise and I wish him the best of luck.

Well except when he plays against us.

He was a staple of the Post-Katrina New Orleans Saints, and we probably wouldn't have a championship without him. I never rooted for a Saint the way I rooted for him; you could feel his frustration, but he remained a class act on and off the field all the way throughout his tenure. Had he not been plagued by injuries, I think we're remembering him very, very differently. But that's not how it happened.


I'm just glad all the bickering is over; I wish him all the best, just not against us. I'll miss the guy, and I'll always associate him with our golden years, even if he wasn't exactly what we wanted him to be.


Reggie

I'm going to miss me some Reggie Bush

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NawlinsTiger9

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I feel the exact same way... I don't think I've ever pulled for a guy to have success more than Reggie. I really could feel his frustration. The guy was a class act throughout his time here.

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Since joining the team in 2006, Bush missed 20 games. In those games, the Saints went 13-7. That’s a .650 winning percentage. In games Bush played, the Saints went 36-24 (.600).

But we have much more than that. In games with Bush since 2006, the Saints averaged 25.9 points. Without him, they averaged 29.8. In games Bush played, the Saints averaged 377.4 yards per game. When he didn’t play, they averaged 419.8.

The Saints completed 66.5 percent of their passes when Bush played. When he didn’t, they completed 67.6.

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shite, I've been saying this for YEARS on this very board, and not many seemed to believe me.