Down in Miami the light bulb seemed to come on and Bush had some of his best years. First he broke 1,000 yards rushing for the first time in his career and last season he came up just shy of the 1,000 mark again while still remaining a consistent ball carrier.

That is why it was no surprise several teams wanted him badly.

With his game breaking ability and newly found patience for carrying between the tackles, Bush is an asset to an offense with the right pieces in place. Washington wanted to bring him in to work wit Robert Griffin III but that was not to be as the Lions scheduled the first meeting with Mr. Bush and didn’t let him leave without a deal:

As @espn_nfcnblog is reporting and has been confirmed, Lions and Reggie Bush have reached agreement on 4-year deal.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 13, 2013

Heisman Trust confirmed that Reggie Bush did return his Heisman Trophy to the Trust a few months ago. Bush said the same on @dpshow today.

— Paulie Pabst (@PaulPabst) August 15, 2012

H/T BSO

There was only one move to make so like LeBron, Reggie took his talents to South Beach.

Soon as I heard about this I said that Reggie would find his way down in Miami only to be called crazy:

One Saints fan responded with this classic poetic dialogue:

one of the better backs in football, really?? dude couldn’t start over a one legged deuce mccallister, Pierre Thomas, mike bell, Chris Ivory, Julius Jones,etc.. yall weren’t suspicious when we traded him to you for a second yr, undrafted backup safety/special teams player???? get REAL with urself guy, hes not playing fresno state anymore. hahaha SPROLES is miles ahead of this hollywood n***a WHO DAT!!!!!

I hope the doubters were watching football last Sunday. After a 203 yard rushing game in week 15, Bush was named AFC Player of the week and is less than 30 yards from crossing the 1,000 yard mark. While Bush isn’t a “franchise back” right now, he is certainly a far away from a draft bust anymore.

Teams have gotten far less production for a runner taken highly in the draft…

Mr. Knowshon.

Reggie Bush and Julius Jones were the backs that were active yesterday for the Saints.  Together they managed just 71 yards on 20 carries.  Julius Jones had two goal line touchdowns as well.    To put that in perspective, on the other side of the field Marshawn Lynch had 131 yards on 19 carries… all by himself.

Team leader Christopher Ivory put together a nice season with 700+ rushing yards and was injured for the team’s finale.  Without him the Saints just couldn’t get into a groove running the ball.  Last year’s Super Bowl hero Pierre Thomas has practically missed the entire season as well.

With Thomas’ availability up in the air there is a good chance he and Reggie Bush could both end up off the Saints roster in 2011.  Pierre Thomas is coming off injury in a contract year so he will most definitely be a free agent this summer.  Bush is owed $11.3 million in 2011, which is also not expected to be picked up.  He only rushed for 150 yards this season and Christopher Ivory is clearly the better “every down back” out of all four of the Saints backs.

Could the Saints be better off letting Thomas and Bush go and grabbing a back in the draft?  It looks that way.  There sure will be some nice players available.  A team like the Saints that has almost every other position settled on offense can afford to draft two or three runners next year.  Demarco Murry, Mikel Leshoure, Noel Devine (very similar to Bush minus the $11 million contract), Daniel Thomas, Jacquizz Rodgers, and Shane Vereen will all be available in the second round and beyond.

Don’t put it past the Saints to evaluate their running back problems and decide its better to clean house.  Sometimes the best additions are by subtraction.

According to sources, an affiliate of the Newton family offered Mississippi State a commitment from Cam Newton in exchange for $100,000.  It is unclear if a money exchange happened or not in the decision of Cam to play for Auburn.  Although the full details have not come out yet, it seems as if from my untrained eye that Newton actually had no hand in any of the deals that were discussed.

Bloggers and writers are saying that Newton has “Reggie Bushed” himself out of winning the Heisman.  That is absurd.  If he didn’t get any money and did not knowingly assist someone in profiting off his name, then what has he done wrong?

The NCAA has a serious problem here.  They want the athletes to be pure and committed like their forefathers of the 40’s and 50’s but we don’t live in that era anymore.  Agents exist. Billion dollar television contracts exist.  Million dollar merchandise sales exist.  Parents who accept hundred thousand dollar gifts and homes exist. Boosters exist.

It’s time for the NCAA to reassess what they are going to do about these issues, or they will just continue to come up.