Sunday Silliness

by BH

I apologize for getting excited about the Niners. They looked really bad during the second half on Sunday. As I've said before, they are good for a 2 win team but the third and most of the fourth quarter showed us how much they must improve before becoming a good NFL team.

There were a few in the media saying and writing fun things about the Jets/Saints and Niner/Titan games being Bush bowls. I admit that I'm excited about the possibility that the Niners could end up with the first pick and the rights to Reggie Bush, but there are a couple problems. 1) He's a junior. What if he pulls a Matt Leinart and decides to stay for his senior season? The rumor was that Leinart decided to stay because San Francisco had the first pick. 2) How are they going to pay for two #1 overall draft picks in a row? For a team that has twice found itself in "salary cap hell," paying through the nose for two guys doesn't sound like the way to build nor maintain a sound team. That being said, I don't know what they're paying for now. I don't know that they can't field a team in which the other 20 starters get paid a little less in order to have Smith and Bush on the field. They both seem like guys who, once they've adapted to the league, can hide a few weaknesses.

I'm still excited at the thought of Reggie Bush in a Forty-Niner uniform. As I told SonDog yesterday, he is, without a doubt, the best college football player I've ever seen. He's like Marshall Faulk and Barry Sanders put together. If he's there for the Niners to take, despite the money issues, I don't see how they could pass him up.

At this point though, the possibility of the Niners having the number 1 pick is moot, because that pick, right now, would belong to the Houston Texans. Along with San Francisco, Green Bay and the New York Jets also have two wins. Let us say for a moment that the Niners finish the season with the second worst record and the #2 pick in the draft behind Houston. Houston has put a lot of money into David Carr, and recently gave Domanick Davis a four year extension. It is conceivable that they would go in a different direction than Bush. I don't know, maybe offensive line help. That would leave the door open for San Francisco to take Bush. Likewise, Green Bay and New York both have steady backs, which makes it seem less likely that they'd be interested in Bush, although there is some talk that Green won't be back in Green Bay next year.

If he is available the Niners have to take Bush, despite the financial strain it might put on the team. If, at the end of his career, Bush has had the type of success many expect him to have, Niner fans don't want to look back and say "I can't believe the Forty-Niners didn't take him because of money."