It's been fun

Inferior proto-Kamara is ready to retire.

“I’m done,” Bush said on NFL Network. “I’m done. I said it. It’s not breaking news. I’ve been saying it. I said it all season, I said, ‘Listen, if I don’t play this year, I’m going to retire.’ Because I’m not going to spend a whole year off, come back, 33 years old, trying to get back in the league. Listen, once you get to a certain age as a running back, they just start to slowly weed you out.”

Bush entered the NFL with the Saints as the second overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft, and although he later spent two years with the Dolphins, two with the Lions, one with the 49ers and one with the Bills, he still considers himself a Saint.

“The Saints know I’m coming home at some point,” Bush said. “I’m going to come home to retire as a Saint. But yeah, man, I’m done. For sure. I’m done.”

For a million watt celebrity-athlete from USC, Reggie sure did have an average career.  As a Saint, he ranks 12th all time in rushing (right between Wayne Wilson and Archie Manning.) Of course that's not the whole picture. Reggie contributed most to the offense as Payton's "Joker" back which found him motioning out of the backfield, lining up in weird places, fumbling very stupid end-arounds that cost the team games and murdered people's grandmas. Also he caught passes sometimes which is why he ranks 21st  on the team all time in receiving yardage.

Maybe that's not exactly fair. For example, among Saints running backs Bush is only behind Pierre Thomas and Dalton Hilliard in receiving yards.  He's also fourth all time in punt return yardage including 4 touchdowns which is more than anybody.  Two of those touchdowns happened in the same Monday Night game against Minnesota (he nearly got a third one that night!) which, despite the fact that the Saints lost, is still one of the most amazing football games I've ever seen.

Also this was enjoyable.



Still, despite all the pomp that came with him, the Saints have managed to fill Bush's multi-purpose role with more productive players twice since he left. This doesn't mean he wasn't a significant presence in New Orleans, it's just that his career never was quite what we were expected to believe it would be.  Anyway it's more than enough for people to applaud when they trot him out at halftime to wave at everybody next year sometime.

Best wishes on your retirement, Reggie. Here's to a speedy recovery.