Reggie Bush: Don't Give Up On Him Yet

More and more Saints fans asking for trades and everything else with regard to Reggie Bush. You could say much of the rhetoric is warranted, so don't expect me to attempt to deflect the knocks against him and start the same old argument.

Like most things, football has different time periods...eras if you will.

In the early days of football there was one rule, RUN. Whereas nowadays it's more common to see 60% of offensive plays taking to the air.

How did we transition from one style to the other over the years? The players dictated the need for change.

Individuals like Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Don Hutson showed coaches, owners, and teams that you could not only be successful with the pass, it could win you championships.

Larry Wilson is a large part of the reason we have the safety blitz and unique blitz packages.

Joe Montana took Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense and made it into a household name (one nearly every team in the NFL tries to duplicate).

Randal Cunningham brought back the era of the scrambling quarterback beating you with his feet or buying time for the long completion. The list goes on and on.

No one will argue over the abilities of these players, their impacts on their teams and the plays run, or their impact on the NFL as a whole, but...what if they were in the wrong era of football?

What if they didn't have coaches that saw how to make the most of their abilities and levels of talent?

What if Joe Montana was around in the '20s?

What if Chuck Drulis didn't have "Wildcat" Larry Wilson to execute his highly unconventional safety blitz, and it failed miserably?

What if Randal Cunningham was benched for not staying in the pocket?

How many other Joe Montanas, Larry Wilsons or Randal Cunninghams were out there playing in the wrong timeframe. How many players were so far ahead of their time, that they just weren't utilized in such a way as to revolutionize the game?

Ladies and gentlemen, I submit Exhibit A: Reggie Bush.

He is truly a unique athlete, no one can take that away from him. Certainly there are other runningbacks and players like him, but there is not now, nor has there ever been a player with his exact skillset. He's essentially a jackrabbit that will have you grasping at air, IF he's in space.

So, why isn't he in the Pro Bowl every year? Why aren't the Saints sporting three sparkly football trophies?

It's simple really, Sean Payton hasn't designed an offense for him. He may never.

Reggie, like so many other players before him, may be forced to adapt to the NFL instead of the NFL adapting to him. 20 years from now, players like Bush may be the norm, but for now...

So why keep him? Because Sean Payton is very, VERY close to a breakthrough. It's evident simply because he hasn't asked Bush to change his style at all. He hasn't asked Bush to adapt (except for running through the tackles).

Sean Payton is looking for the fool-proof way to get Bush the ball in space, facing downfield, with time to make magic happen. Not an easy task to undertake, but it is one that he seems to get closer and closer to as time progresses.

There are two givens whenever Bush is on the field: 1) Sean Payton is trying to get Bush into space. 2) Defenses are trying to keep Bush out of space.

It's due to number two alone that he is such an effective decoy, but that is not why Sean is so in love with Bush.

Essentially, what Payton is looking for is a way to install a wingback type position in the NFL and make it successful. That's his mission, and it is DAUNTING. The effective employment of a secondary speed back that you must respect but can't focus on could be exactly the way to use Reggie and see those explosive plays everyone has been waiting for.

I personally hope he finds a way to do so, because it would definitely be a fun thing to watch. In the meantime, let's keep Reggie around. Give him his opportunities to electrify or infuriate (at least it's exciting).

I for one would much rather pay him less and keep him, then ship him off somewhere else that might be waiting for a Reggie Bush to install in "the next big thing".