As former girlfriend Kim Kardashian prepared for her gala wedding weekend,
Reggie Bush was having his own kind of rehearsal dinner with a new partner.
The
Miami Dolphins can only hope their union with Bush is a marriage made in heaven.
Bush is the kind of NFL trophy wife the Dolphins have lacked — a running back with game-breaking speed and charisma to re-engage a dispirited fan base. He began doing that Friday night in his Dolphins preseason debut against the
Carolina Panthers.
Bush’s performance — 81 total yards on 10 touches (eight rushes, two receptions) — invoked “Reg-gie!” chants from a Sun Life Stadium crowd that he noted was “dead” at the opening kickoff.
“It never gets old,” a smiling Bush said afterward.
Bush invoked that same kind of passion for six seasons in New Orleans. But his relationship with the franchise ended in divorce. The
New Orleans Saints felt Bush wasn’t worth his $11 million base salary for the 2011 season. After he agreed to a restricted contract, Bush was traded to Miami for an undisclosed draft pick and backup safety Jon Amaya.
As integral as he was to New Orleans’ success — Bush drew special attention from opposing defenses because he could create coverage mismatches against linebackers and safeties — there was surprisingly little brouhaha from Saints players about his departure. Saints management believes free-agent replacement
Darren Sproles will be at least comparable and potentially more productive in some ways than the injury plagued Bush, who hasn’t completed a full 16-game season since his rookie campaign in 2006. Holdover
Pierre Thomas and 2011 first-round draft pick Mark Ingram will carry the heavy rushing load.
Though he hasn’t leveled direct criticism at the Saints, it’s obvious Bush feels his skills weren’t fully utilized as a bell-cow back in New Orleans. Asked about the hard-charging style he displayed between the tackles against Carolina, Bush said: “It’s always been me. I think, for different reasons in the past, I got away from it because I know in my mind I was only going to be able to run the ball three or four times a game. I kind of got away from the element of who I am — that’s being aggressive and attacking.”
