NFL: Reggie Bush agrees to 6-year deal with Saints

Viggö

The New Orleans Saints and first-round draft choice Reggie Bush agreed to terms late Saturday night on a six-year contract, ESPN.com has learned.

Financial terms of the contract, which will be signed on Sunday, were not yet available. But based on discussions with NFL sources throughout Saturday, as the two sides moved closer to the accord, it appears that Bush's contract will easily exceed the one signed earlier this week by Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, and will come very close to the deal for top overall pick Mario Williams.

Agent Joel Segal, who hammered out the accord over the last few days, would only confirm late Saturday that he will travel to Jackson, Miss., site of the Saints' training camp at Millsaps College, to meet with New Orleans officials there. He will be joined by Bush, who is flying in from Los Angeles.

It is doubtful that, given the travel involved and the time that it will take for all the parties to review what is expected to be a very lengthy contract document, Bush will practice on Sunday.

For a while on Saturday night, it appeared that an agreement would not come until Sunday, as the two sides approached a deal, but still had to pore over a substantial amount of complicated data. But Segal and Saints negotiator Russ Ball forged ahead and came to an agreement at about 10:30 p.m. ET.

It is not known how much impetus was provided by the contract to which Young, the third overall selection in the draft, agreed this week. Young received $25.74 million in guarantees from the Titans, slightly less than the $26.5 million in bonuses that the Houston Texans awarded Williams.

Bush was the second player chosen and had missed the first two days of training camp practices.

Before the discussions heated up on Thursday, the two sides had discussed framework and concepts, and perhaps even floated some dollar figures.

Compounding the negotiations for the Saints was the fact that Bush, who has embraced the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans and already made several sizeable donations to charities there, has banked $5 million-$7 million in various endorsement contracts negotiated by Mike Ornstein, his marketing agent.

That certainly alleviated the urgency for Bush to sign a contract quickly, since he already has considerable cash flow.

Bush said during the team's rookie minicamp in May that he wanted to be in camp on time and that he had instructed Segal to attempt to accomplish that goal. But only a few days later, Bush clarified his remarks, telling ESPN.com that any contract had to be a sound business decision.

[Credit: ESPN]

The ROC

That is some great news to hear, look forward to see how Reggie's rookie year in the NFL pans out. Thanks for the news Viggo.

Odoyel Rules!

.G¹.

im not sure if he is starting can someone let me know???

but most rookies dont start their first year, and that is why most rookies dont do as well as expected. they have to get used to the pace of the NFL as 818 said.

Odoyel Rules!

no way he is starting this is who i think will start Week 1 of the top 32 picks
In Order They Were Picked If there is a star next to there name i think They Will Start
1 Houston Williams, Mario DE 6-7 294 North Carolina State *
2 New Orleans Bush, Reggie RB 5-11 200 Southern California
3 Tennessee Young, Vince QB 6-5 228 Texas
4 N.Y. Jets Ferguson, D'Brickashaw OT 6-6 313 Virginia *
5 Green Bay Hawk, A.J. OLB 6-1 247 Ohio State *
6 San Francisco Davis, Vernon TE 6-3 256 Maryla*nd
7 Oakland Huff, Michael SS 6-0 203 Texas *
8 Buffalo Whitner, Donte SS 5-10 203 Ohio State
9 Detroit Sims, Ernie OLB 5-11 232 Florida State*
10 Arizona Leinart, Matt QB 6-5 224 Southern California
11 Denver (from St. Louis) Cutler, Jay QB 6-3 225 Vanderbilt
12 Baltimore (from Cleveland) Ngata, Haloti DT 6-4 337 Oregon *
13 Cleveland (from Baltimore) Wimbley, Kamerion DE 6-3 241 Florida State*
14 Philadelphia Bunkley, Brodrick DT 6-3 307 Florida State
15 St. Louis (from Atlanta through Denver) Hill, Tye CB 5-9 186 Clemson
16 Miami Allen, Jason CB 6-1 208 Tennessee *
17 Minnesota Greenway, Chad OLB 6-3 243 Iowa
18 Dallas Carpenter, Bobby OLB 6-3 255 Ohio State
19 San Diego Cromartie, Antonio CB 6-2 207 Florida State
20 Kansas City Hali, Tamba DE 6-3 275 Penn State *
21 New England Maroney, Laurence RB 6-0 216 Minnesota
22 San Francisco (from Washington through Denver) Lawson, Manny OLB 6-5 240 North Carolina State *
23 Tampa Bay Joseph, Davin G 6-3 312 Oklahoma *
24 Cincinnati Joseph, Johnathan CB 5-11 192 South Carolina
25 Pittsburgh (from N.Y. Giants) Holmes, Santonio WR 5-11 187 Ohio State*
26 Buffalo (from Chicago) McCargo, John DT 6-2 301 North Carolina State
27 Carolina Williams, DeAngelo RB 5-9 213 Memphis
28 Jacksonville Lewis, Marcedes TE 6-6 262 UCLA *
29 N.Y. Jets (from Denver) Mangold, Nick C 6-4 299 Ohio State*
30 Indianapolis Addai, Joseph RB 5-11 215 Louisiana State
31 Seattle Jennings, Kelly CB 5-11 179 Miami (Fla.)
32 N.Y. Giants (from Pittsburgh) Kiwanuka, Mathias DE 6-6 265 Boston College

Gunstar Chaos

He'll start for the the ticket sales. He'll be injured in the third week.

Odoyel Rules!

they already have all the season tickets sold out so and he will only get 15-25 snaps per game so he will be fresh week in week out