When the Miami Dolphins acquired Reggie Bush from New Orleans, Bush vowed to become something he has not been in his NFL career thus far: an every-down back.
In five NFL seasons, Bush has averaged 8.7 rushing attempts per game, a far cry from the 20-25 attempts expected of a feature back. Even in his final year at USC when he won the Heisman Trophy, Bush only amassed 15.4 carries per game.
But the Dolphins share Bush's ambition. Head coach Tony Sparano said of Bush this week, "He's going to be the first runner out of the gate and we're going to figure out ways to get him the ball."
However, Bush and the Dolphins' coaching staff seem to be the only people who believe he can make it through an entire season as the team's feature back without getting injured. Bush has gone an entire season without injury only once in his career.
Monday Night Football analyst Chris Collinsworth told the Miami Herald Bush's former coach, Sean Payton, explained to him that the Saints traded Bush because "Payton didn’t feel it was right for Reggie to be that 20 carry-a-game kind of guy."
NFL Hall-of-Famer Joe Theismann offered a similar criticism.
"Running is not Bush’s talent. He’s a specialist," he said.
If running is not a running back's talent, then what good is he?
Even the Herald's Armando Salguero is getting in on the Bush bashing, writing Wednesday, "I. Do. Not. Buy. This." ("This" being Bush as a carry the load running back).
And the beat down goes on when you listen to talk radio.
"Bush, to me, is not a guy you hand the ball to and figure, 'OK, we're taken care of back there,'" said ESPN's Mike Greenberg.
At least Sports Illustrated's Peter King gave some actual football analysis as to why Bush might not make it as a feature back in the league.
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"I have real sincere questions whether he can last 16 games... I think he's going to get ping-ponged a lot out there," he wrote.
But the keys to the backfield were handed to Bush as soon as Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams were allowed to leave in free agency. The Dolphins feel they know something the skeptics don't.
If Bush does get hurt in 2011, who knows what his backup, rookie Daniel Thomas, can do in his place.
It would not have cost much to keep Williams around this season, and the Dolphins may end up paying dearly for not doing so if the Reggie Bush experiment turns out to be a dud.
