To determine value, you have to evaluate how much of a difference a player makes in helping his team win. Dante Hall made a difference as a punt returner. In some years he was huge.

He isn’t worth any more (in some areas less) than a replacement level player whether he’s running, receiving or returning punts. Bush’s yardage total doesn’t mean squat. [e.g. Larry Johnson completely sucks this year, playing well below replacement level, but he's got 358 yards.]

Bush isn’t adding any value. And given how much he costs, he is a huge net negative to the Saints.

Bush and Hall are both quick, fast, undersized college running backs who were first round picks. Hall was deployed in a manner which used his talent to provide value. He helped his team win games. Bush hasn’t added any value, in part because the Saints projected him to be able to play RB in the NFL. They keep trying to get RB value from him and he isn’t suited for it.

I believe that Payton either needs to use him more as a third down back or slot receiver or trade the kid. Maybe San Diego would like him since LT is at the end of his usefulness. Then Bust could be closer to Kim Kardashian and her goofy reality show. And therein lies some of his problem as well. He is a celebrity more than he is a football player. Do you think Mike Bell would ever appear on a reality show on the E! network? Of course, not. But who would you rather hand the ball to on third and one? Bell puts his head down and runs over defenders. Bush dances and loses two yards.

Maybe a fresh start some place else would do him some good. I just don’t see him ever reaching his potential in New Orleans. But since he will count as $13 million against the Saints’ cap next year, I don’t see him being here unless he’s willing to restructure his contract and take back-up money since he is, for all intents and purposes, a back-up player. I wish him well wherever he lands, but I won’t mourn his departure either.

Brophy does make some good points about how Bush can contribute a lot to the team simply because of his versatility. I don’t know how good of a downhill between-the-tackles runner Bush can ever become, though, and that’s the name of the game in the NFL.

Marshall Faulk wasn’t known for it, but being able to do that when he had to was another of those skills that helped make him such a valuable, dangerous RB. Bush can take a handoff and hit a hole, but he gets taken down with arm tackles way too much. I believe Faulk played most of his career at about 10-15 lbs heavier than Bush, though. And, as Brophy said, Faulk was a great route runner where Bush gets slooppy.

Bush is still the same lightening fast RB he was in college. It’s just that he’s not light years ahead of defenders athletically anymore, which means those open field jukes and razor sharp cuts aren’t as easy. Young NFL backs inevitably wind up either becoming better downhill runners or their careers stall. Marshall Faulk did it quickly. Thomas Jones took a few years to do this but he finally made it. Lots of other backs don’t. It remains to be seen if Bush can.

I think Bush may eventually wind up transitioning into a sort of Percy Harvin role: a WR who gets to run Jet sweeps and who occasionally lines up or motions into the backfield to run the ball. Brophy’s right that he is very versatile out there, but at this stage in his career, he’s more of an athletic jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none type who gets by more on all-world speed and quickness than professional-grade skills. I personally suspect that his touches may have even been artificially inflated thus far in his career because of all the hype surrounding him.

Dante Hall in 9 years (112 games) has the same RECEIVING yardage (1700) as Reggie Bush in 3 years (44 games). Thing is Bush has 8 rushing TDs to his 6. Then you have to factor in Bush’s RUSHING production in that same time, to the tune of 1700 yards and 15 TDs.

So forgive me for thinking that your analogy is coming from left field.

Has Bush been any more valuable to the Saints than Hall was to the Chiefs? Hall was a better punt returner and since Bush doesn’t run back kickoffs, he’s obviously better there, too. Bush provides more yardage from scrimmage, but Reggie doesn’t much value over a typical replacement level player. Hall made two pro bowls.

I remember explosively quick guys coming out of college (Faulk, McCallister, S.Alexander) who turned into powerful runners (though, Faulk is kind of an exception) because they put on so much weight (they didn’t come into the league as heavy runners). I think the fact that Bush hasn’t had to bulk up like those other runners will only help him in his future development.

The back Bush should most emulate would be Marshall Faulk, and being a NOLA guy, I only hope there were some kind of osmosis / transference Faulk could impart how dangerous of a weapon he was with the Rams. The multitude of routes he would run out of the backfield in St.Louis (at the precision in which he ran those routes) was what made them so explosive.

Addditionally, to have a guy that is such a tweener (receiver/back) offers you something special with which to stress personnel groupings against limited 53 man rosters. Do you bring in a LB or a safety with Bush (when Bell/Thomas are on the field)? Payton has been experimenting with these groupings since he came to NO and I’m not sure if he has fully tapped what all he can do with these guys.

Finally (and maybe optimistically as a ‘fan’), look at Tiki Barber and what happened when the rookie Jeremy Shockey arrived ( I believe he upped the yd/carry average by 1-2 yards). Although, defensively what do you really do when you have a tweener like Shockey (TE/receiver) coupled with Bush (receiver/back) in the lineup at once?

The guy Reggie Bush most reminds me of is Eric Metcalf, the former undersized but lightening quick RB “bust” of the Cleveland Browns who went on to be a Pro-Bowl WR in the Atlanta Falcons’ Run and Shoot. I believe Mike Rozier also helped to somewhat salvage a “bust” career as an undersized NFL RB by moving to slot receiver in the Oilers’ old Run and Shoot, too.

With Bush, I’d really like to see how he’d work as a down-the-field receiver who could catch deep and mid-range balls in addition to the underneath/outlet receiver stuff the always gets. It’s almost like they’re afraid to have him running anything besides “running back” routes. As Scott wrote above and this article hints at, he would be GREAT as a slot receiver who could also run jet sweeps, reverses, and maybe occasionally get the ball on a draw. Throw him some quick slants as well as some outs, digs, fades, and posts to him and it looks like he could really become a true big play threat in that offense.

Can you imagine Ronnie Brown as the wildcat QB for the Dolphins, with Ricky Williams as the tailback and Reggie Bush coming on the jet sweep.

Wow!