In late February the Detroit Lions released running back Reggie Bush to free up $3.25 million in cap space. Bush is now one of the top backs available and is considering three teams during his third free agency tour.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Bush has his choice down to the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers and the team that originally drafted him, the New Orleans Saints. The 30-year-old is coming off his least productive season in the NFL thanks to a slew of injuries that kept him out of action, so any deal he signs is not expected to be lucrative.
He finished with 76 carries for only 297 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 40 receptions for 253 yards in 11 games. Let's take a look at those who are potentially interested in him.
Patriots: New England lost running back Shane Vereen to the New York Giants and it's unclear whether they'll be re-signing Stevan Ridley, who is coming off ACL/MCL surgery. Bush would be a nice fit here and serve as a good dual threat out of the backfield, as Vereen did with 140 carries and 146 receptions over the past two seasons.
49ers: Frank Gore has left the Bay Area to sign with the Indianapolis Colts and they have a good in-house option to succeed him. Carlos Hyde emerged as a productive back in 2014 after logging 83 carries for 333 yards and four touchdowns. However, he's not much of a receiving back, which is where Bush would fill in nicely. They just added Torrey Smith to potentially fill the shoes of Michael Crabtree, so look for them to make more moves.
Saints: New Orleans retained running back Mark Ingram on a four-year, $16 million deal and they also have Khiry Robinson under contract, but they cut Pierre Thomas last week, who was their top receiving back. They only saved $1.735 million with the move, so it's unclear if they'll be able to afford Bush, but they did just trade tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seattle Seahawks in a transaction that saved them $9 million. A reunion would be nice, wouldn't it?
There could be more teams that enter the mix for Bush and we'll be keeping an eye on that.
