"A Faster Marshall Faulk"

At the risk of sounding like a Texas A&M or Boston Red Sox fan, I feel like the ESPN Reggie Bush Hype Machine is due for a rant.

I realize him not signing right away was a big story in pre-season camp. Fine. Tell me about how he wants #1 pick money. When he did finally sign, ESPN said, and I quote, “His deal will be far closer to Mario Williams’ deal than to #3 pick Vince Young’s.” In the end, it was about $500K more than Vince’s and about $200K less than Williams’. Wow, what a HUGE difference.

But that was just the beginning. Now that he’s in camp, that’s all we’re going to hear about.

On NFL Live today the first story was about Bush. Marc Schlereth and Sean Salisbury both slobbered all over Bush. I have come to expect this from ESPN “analysts” (particularly Salisbury, who’s a USC alum), but this exceeded even my expectations. Schlereth actually said, “He’s the most dynamic player in the National Football League”. And you know this how? From one day of non-contact drills at training camp?

Then they go on to show some Arkansas linebacker who gets burned by Bush. Salisbury says “No linebacker in college can cover him and no linebacker in the NFL can cover him.” Derrick Brooks might have something to say about that.

Bush is an amazing athlete who will probably be very good in the NFL, even as a rookie. He couldn’t have come into a better situation – a team/city desperately in need of a star and sharing the backfield with an established (and very good) running back in the NFL. McCallister and Bush will prove to be a synergistic pair, spelling each other and providing a nice change of pace for the offense.

But please, please, please, could we see him do something on the field before anointing him the mutation of Gayle Sayers, Barry Sanders, Earl Campbell, and Marshall Faulk?