With Saints running back Reggie Bush due to earn $11.8 million in the final year of his rookie contract and with Bush earning more than $22,000 for each yard from scrimmage he gained in 2009, both sides know that Bush’s salary needs to be adjusted, to say the least.
Amid speculation from some that Bush could be cut by March 4, we addressed the situation on Thursday’s PFT Live in response to a question from a member of PFT Planet, submitted by Twitter. It’s highly unlikely, in our view, that the Saints would cut him before a new CBA takes effect. There’s simply no reason to do so, unless and until the league and the NFLPA install a salary cap that requires the Saints to make immediate cuts.
Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune seems to agree. Triplett reports that the Saints will wait to make a decision, hoping first to extend/restructure the deal.
An extension could be the best approach. With Bush recognizing he needs to accept less money for 2011, the Saints could put together a package that still pays him $11.8 million this year, with much of the money coming from a signing bonus that would cover the future years of his second contract with the team.
From Bush’s perspective, the real question is whether someone else will pay him more than what the Saints will pay him. Frankly, Bush has greater value to the Saints than any other team, given the impact Bush has had on New Orleans since arriving there unexpectedly five years ago.
At some point, then, Bush may need to have a chance to test the market, either by receiving permission to shop himself in a possible trade -- or via the technically impermissible conversations between other teams and agents that occur all the time.
From an agent’s perspective, it’s good business to determine what lurks behind Door No. 2 before passing on the deal that the current team is offering. Once Bush knows the answer to that, he can make a good decision regarding the amount of money that the Saints are offering a guy who has become a part-time, pass-catching tailback and an above-average punt-returner.