At age 29, the most productive years of Reggie Bush‘s career may be behind him rather than ahead of him, but we heard earlier this year that the running back still hopes to play several more seasons. Still, while Bush would like to extend his career beyond his current contract with the Lions, which expires in 2016, that doesn’t mean he wants to leave Detroit. Speaking to Erik Kuselias of Pro Football Talk, the former second overall pick indicated that he’d like to spend his remaining seasons with the Lions.
“I want to stay here, I want to retire here and I’d love to retire as a Detroit Lion,” Bush said. “I don’t want to bounce around from city to city, from team to team. I think I have something good going here, have been really getting to know the city over the past year and just really looking forward to bringing a championship here someday and making history.”
NFL players on long-term contracts often don’t play out their entire deals, particularly if they’re running backs whose contracts run through their age 31 season. Bush also may have to assume a slightly lesser role in the Lions’ offense in the coming years, now that the club has re-signed young playmaker Joique Bell to complement him in the backfield. If Bush hopes to play five more seasons, as he suggested in January, and to retire as a Lion, reductions in both pay and playing time figure to be in the cards at some point.
For now, Bush will likely be focused on building upon a 2013 campaign that saw him set a career high in total offensive yards from scrimmage (1,512) despite appearing in just 14 contests.