Signs With 49ers
Signs With 49ers, If he can give them anything on the field, the San Francisco 49ers and their fans will love Reggie Bush.
In a move first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter, the 49ers locked up the former Detroit Lions running back to compete with second-year back Carlos Hyde and 26-year-old Kendall Hunter in a crowded backfield. It's a backfield that also has talented fullback Bruce Miller (pending legal issues) and a speedy quarterback in Colin Kaepernick. The 30-year-old back isn't the same dynamic player he was when he last inhabited the state of California. The former USC star was drafted second overall in 2006 and starred for the New Orleans Saints—though, never as the focal point of the offense and far more as a multitool gadget player. Still, he won a Super Bowl with the Saints and was crucial in the games leading up to the Saints' only championship.
Bush was eventually traded to the Miami Dolphins. He was featured as a rusher for the first time in his career and would parlay that success into a contract with the Detroit Lions, where he never really panned out due to injuries and declining speed. Frankly, when one considers the fanfare with which he arrived in Detroit, calling his tenure there a disappointment would be an understatement.
At his best, Bush has always been the sort of back equally adept at running between the tackles (if, perhaps, with a tendency to break runs outside) as well as pressing the perimeters of the defense as a swing/screen pass-catcher. His lightning-quick first step has always been his best way of winning matchups against whatever a defense throws at him, but that first step has been seen less and less as he's aged.
Now, he settles back into a complementary role.
It's a role that suits Bush and a role the 49ers were wise to fill.
The 49ers were not the only team that was interested in signing the aging back this season. The Lions once seemed as if they were leaning toward keeping him, but the $1.7 million in savings was too much to pass up in a cash-strapped offseason with bigger needs.
NFL Media's Ian Rapoport almost immediately connected Bush to the 49ers but also to a potential return with the Saints or to fill the role of the departing Shane Vereen for the New England Patriots. Eventually, C.J. Spiller went to New Orleans and Bush chose the 49ers after visiting both them and the defending Super Bowl champions.
For San Francisco, Hyde will clearly be the lead back after a rookie season where he ran for 333 yards at 4.0 yards per attempt and showed that he could make Frank Gore (now with Indianapolis) expendable. Hunter is coming off of an ACL tear, and he tore his Achilles earlier in his career. He's likely going to be Hyde's primary backup, though Bush may eat into his touches as a passing-game target. This is similar to setups used in previous years by teams like the Lions, Patriots and Saints where a running back becomes the complement but not the true backup—almost playing an entirely different position that just happens to be called the same on the depth chart.
It's a role the 49ers have dabbled in before, drafting LaMichael James and utilizing Miller as a receiver from the fullback position. Now, Bush brings a wealth of route-running and receiving knowledge to the position he was once the prototype for.
Having an outlet for Kaepernick, too, is important, as tight end Vernon Davis is better utilized as a deep threat and is mostly wasted on "security blanket" routes. Kaepernick's ability as a runner is all the more useful with a running back pressing linebackers into coverage and forcing them to choose between being burned by Kaepernick's arm or legs.
It's also a fair bit of positive news for the 49ers in an offseason that has seen the departure of former stars such as linebacker Patrick Willis and offensive guard Mike Iupati. Bush may not be the electrifying superstar he once was, but he's a good fit.
Ultimately, this deal will be judged by how much Bush has left in the tank and how well he meshes with the 49ers offense. Some of that depends on him, but it's also in the hands of Kaepernick and new offensive coordinator Geep Chryst.
If Bush can't put pressure on defenders in the same way he once did, or if he's misused like a square peg in round holes, it won't matter how big his name is or that he's "coming home" to California. After the litany of injuries he's had over the past couple of seasons, he is no longer any sort of a sure thing.
In a move first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter, the 49ers locked up the former Detroit Lions running back to compete with second-year back Carlos Hyde and 26-year-old Kendall Hunter in a crowded backfield. It's a backfield that also has talented fullback Bruce Miller (pending legal issues) and a speedy quarterback in Colin Kaepernick. The 30-year-old back isn't the same dynamic player he was when he last inhabited the state of California. The former USC star was drafted second overall in 2006 and starred for the New Orleans Saints—though, never as the focal point of the offense and far more as a multitool gadget player. Still, he won a Super Bowl with the Saints and was crucial in the games leading up to the Saints' only championship.
Bush was eventually traded to the Miami Dolphins. He was featured as a rusher for the first time in his career and would parlay that success into a contract with the Detroit Lions, where he never really panned out due to injuries and declining speed. Frankly, when one considers the fanfare with which he arrived in Detroit, calling his tenure there a disappointment would be an understatement.
At his best, Bush has always been the sort of back equally adept at running between the tackles (if, perhaps, with a tendency to break runs outside) as well as pressing the perimeters of the defense as a swing/screen pass-catcher. His lightning-quick first step has always been his best way of winning matchups against whatever a defense throws at him, but that first step has been seen less and less as he's aged.
Now, he settles back into a complementary role.
It's a role that suits Bush and a role the 49ers were wise to fill.
The 49ers were not the only team that was interested in signing the aging back this season. The Lions once seemed as if they were leaning toward keeping him, but the $1.7 million in savings was too much to pass up in a cash-strapped offseason with bigger needs.
NFL Media's Ian Rapoport almost immediately connected Bush to the 49ers but also to a potential return with the Saints or to fill the role of the departing Shane Vereen for the New England Patriots. Eventually, C.J. Spiller went to New Orleans and Bush chose the 49ers after visiting both them and the defending Super Bowl champions.
For San Francisco, Hyde will clearly be the lead back after a rookie season where he ran for 333 yards at 4.0 yards per attempt and showed that he could make Frank Gore (now with Indianapolis) expendable. Hunter is coming off of an ACL tear, and he tore his Achilles earlier in his career. He's likely going to be Hyde's primary backup, though Bush may eat into his touches as a passing-game target. This is similar to setups used in previous years by teams like the Lions, Patriots and Saints where a running back becomes the complement but not the true backup—almost playing an entirely different position that just happens to be called the same on the depth chart.
It's a role the 49ers have dabbled in before, drafting LaMichael James and utilizing Miller as a receiver from the fullback position. Now, Bush brings a wealth of route-running and receiving knowledge to the position he was once the prototype for.
Having an outlet for Kaepernick, too, is important, as tight end Vernon Davis is better utilized as a deep threat and is mostly wasted on "security blanket" routes. Kaepernick's ability as a runner is all the more useful with a running back pressing linebackers into coverage and forcing them to choose between being burned by Kaepernick's arm or legs.
It's also a fair bit of positive news for the 49ers in an offseason that has seen the departure of former stars such as linebacker Patrick Willis and offensive guard Mike Iupati. Bush may not be the electrifying superstar he once was, but he's a good fit.
Ultimately, this deal will be judged by how much Bush has left in the tank and how well he meshes with the 49ers offense. Some of that depends on him, but it's also in the hands of Kaepernick and new offensive coordinator Geep Chryst.
If Bush can't put pressure on defenders in the same way he once did, or if he's misused like a square peg in round holes, it won't matter how big his name is or that he's "coming home" to California. After the litany of injuries he's had over the past couple of seasons, he is no longer any sort of a sure thing.
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Signs With 49ers
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