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discussion about RB-M.Bush - overrated ? the next B.Jacobs ? E.Shelton (1 Viewer)

Sanboy

Footballguy
some discussion on M.Bush please ...

I only saw him a couple times pre- injury .. and both times pre injury he showed he was a BIG GUY . .and at that level could at times turn the corner . .BUT .. at the same time i saw him go down on the first touch -- many many times ...

I have watched a couple " highlight " videos on the net with him and keep seeing the same thing a guy who is HUGE but doesnt seem to have the speed to get around the corner at the next level and doesnt seem to put the pads down and overpower people either

I like the situation he is going to . because lets be honest L.Jordan unless he has a huge bounce back season .. most likely will be gone next season and Rhodes is nothing more than a compliment type back

so my question is ..

is M.Bush over rated .. i keep hearing people say .. IF he was healthy .. if he was healthy ..

so if he is healthy he is a 230 lb 6'2 Rb that doesnt have great speed or burst and doesnt run with power ? ????

Eric Shelton was built about the same .. and Brandon Jacobs is about the same size and runs about the same speed .. but runs with more power .. and my personal opinion with Jacobs is that he is a short yardage guy who is stuck trying to be a # 1 rb .....

your opinions ??????????

 
My opinion: Overrated big back who doesn't use his size, doesn't have the quickness to make a lot of people miss and has poor balance.

 
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yea i personally see that as well . .all of it ..

and i am not trying to " hate " on BUSH .. just trying to understand why all the " love " when the more i look at BUSH the more i am not impressed considering all the " hype " about him being a # 1 rd talent if healthy ..

i just dont see it

 
He is an idiot for not coming back. A healthy year could have moved him much further up the in the draft and netted him a very nice paycheck. I don't forsee him every getting another shot at that kind of money again.

 
Has a lot of room to improve as a runner, but has a great mix of size and speed that give him some upside IMHO. Significantly better than Chris Henry for example.

 
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I've never seen him play, but did pick him up in my dynasty rookie draft today .. he's going on my practice squad since I have LT and Edge among others ... so for me it was well worth the gamble .. if he pans out I'm golden, if not ... nice try ....

heres what they say @ http://www.nfldraftcountdown.com/scoutingr...ichaelbush.html

Strengths:

Has terrific size...Very good timed speed for a guy with his dimensions and has a burst...A phenomenal athlete...Natural runner with great vision and instincts...A smart, patient runner with great power who can move a pile...Excellent balance and agility...Has superb hands and runs good routes...Was productive both as a receiver out of the backfield as well as splitting out wide...Has fantastic feet and is very nimble...Was very productive at every level and just seems to have a nose for the endzone...Adequate blocker...Can run inside and outside...A team leader.

Weaknesses:

Coming off a relatively major injury...Will get overweight at times...Is not quite as physical of a runner as you'd think he would be considering his size...Too upright and needs to run with a lower pad level...Lacks breakaway speed and won't run away from people in the pros...Not overly nifty or elusive...Has never carried the load in college and always split carries with the likes of Eric Shelton, Lionel Gates and even Kolby Smith...Was he a product of the system...Has durability concerns.

Notes:

Suffered a broken leg in the first game of his senior campaign and he missed the rest of the '06 season but there should not be any long-term effects...He had the option of redshirting and playing one more year at Louisville but chose to go pro instead...Top recruit who also played some quarterback and safety as a freshman for the Cardinals...Legitimate 1st round talent whose stock has dipped due to the injury...How high he ultimately goes will depend on how healthy he is prior to the draft...A versatile prospect with starting potential in the mold of Jamal Lewis who may wind up being a steal for someone if he falls to the latter portion of Day One.

:mellow:

 
When did Brandon Jacobs become overrated? He played behind an abosulte stud in Barber. Talk to me in a year when he's been given his shot.

 
My opinion: Overrated big back who doesn't use his size, doesn't have the quickness to make a lot of people miss and has poor balance.
Is this opinion from specifically scouting him for draftguys or just general observations from his sophomore and junior years? How many games did you watch? Did you watch his last game, the one where he breaks his leg?
 
the poor balance and going down on the first touch .. was exactly what i saw when i watched his highlight clips ...

 
the poor balance and going down on the first touch .. was exactly what i saw when i watched his highlight clips ...
Oddly the only highlights I can find are at Sports Illustrated. Do you have a link to others? I can assure those are a very poor representation of his game.
 
He is an idiot for not coming back. A healthy year could have moved him much further up the in the draft and netted him a very nice paycheck. I don't forsee him every getting another shot at that kind of money again.
This is what I was thinking but then I did have him on my dynasty college league.
 
I recently took him at 1.04 in a non-PPR rookie draft. That's more a function of my apathy towards the rest of the class than it is a ringing endorsement of Bush.

I actually agree that he looks bad in those highlights you linked, but he looks pretty good here:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/draft?round=4&dl=nfl

He lacks explosiveness and is perhaps too big to be an every down back, but I think he's still a reasonable gamble in the first round depending on the structure of your league and the make-up of your team. He was considered a first round talent by some people heading into the season. Although he fell to the 4th, he landed in a great situation and could potentially vie for serious playing time as early as next year.

Maybe he's the next Marion Barber or maybe he's the next Lee Suggs. It's definitely a gamble, but look at the alternatives in the same range:

Jamarcus Russell - Just as likely to be Carr as he is Palmer. QBs take years to develop and don't offer as much trade value upside.

Brady Quinn - Late first round QB in a pitiful organization with what looks like a weak supporting cast.

Brandon Jackson - He's okay, but does anyone really think he's going to be an above average starter in the NFL? I think he's Mike Pittman.

Chris Henry - :boxing:

Ted Ginn - Meh.

Dwayne Bowe - Good player, but WRs aren't worth much in leagues like Zealots and Misfits.

Robert Meachem - See: Dwayne Bowe

Not exactly an inspiring group this year. In fact, there's almost no value difference between 1.04 and 2.04 in non-PPR leagues. Rough year to draw a high pick if you didn't get the 1.03 or better.

 
Good lord. Those are the most awful set of highlights I've seen in a long time. Putting a line through his name on my dynasty board. :popcorn:

 
I will be the first to admit i only say 2 games preinjury .. that i watched from start to end ..

and when i watched those i wasnt too impressed... then i watched those highlights and started to read more and more about him and i kept asking myself the same question

" why does everyone like this guy so much "

and i came up with a quick way to describe him

a BIG guy who has no explosiveness and doesnt use his size to run with power ...

and this is why he made me think of ERIC SHELTON - big guy who doesnt run with power .. RON DAYNE .. big guy who doesnt run with power ..

just seemed wierd that everyone was talking about this guy like he was a first round talent pre- injury .. and if he was slow and non explosive before the injury .. what is he going to be like after... is he going to gain speed .. lol

 
My opinion: Overrated big back who doesn't use his size, doesn't have the quickness to make a lot of people miss and has poor balance.
Is this opinion from specifically scouting him for draftguys or just general observations from his sophomore and junior years? How many games did you watch? Did you watch his last game, the one where he breaks his leg?
Both from scouting him and seeing several games his junior year. I did see most of his carries in the first game of 2006 when he broke his leg. The beauties of ESPN Gameplan. :yes:I know you and others I respect disagree, but I really think he is quite overrated. He is faster than Ron Dayne, but displays that same lack of balance and "hard" running. Add to that questions about his work ethic and weight management and I just don't see it. But feel free to bump this and call me an idiot if he becomes a star.
 
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content....&CID=572307

bush highlights ... really i see nothing .. i see a big guy with no balance at all
And this is all you've seen? I'm not being sarcastic in asking. I am curious. Your opinion is certainly shared by a few I respect and have watched him quite a bit.
:yes: CC, I have to laugh man. This is the third highlight video (the YouTube one I reviewed for DraftGuys, the SportsIllustrated one and this Rivals one) that people agree makes him look overrated, but you dismiss. Now you know I love you and your opinion, and you did win the division over EBF and I in Z30, but isn't it just possible that it's not that all the video highlights are bad, but that he just isn't that good?

 
I'm lmao too. All of those highlights are horrible.

I'm sure his straight line speed is fine, esp for his size, but it takes him too long to make a move, stop, gather himself and recover. It looks like only thing he doesn't do w/o significant lag is that little half baby stutter step which isn't going to rack up that much yardage in the NFL.

He's also running too upright and looks like he wants to fall down everytime he makes a cut. Very little power for a guy his size. He very much does look like Dayne.

I wont be touching him.

 
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content....&CID=572307

bush highlights ... really i see nothing .. i see a big guy with no balance at all
And this is all you've seen? I'm not being sarcastic in asking. I am curious. Your opinion is certainly shared by a few I respect and have watched him quite a bit.
:lmao: CC, I have to laugh man. This is the third highlight video (the YouTube one I reviewed for DraftGuys, the SportsIllustrated one and this Rivals one) that people agree makes him look overrated, but you dismiss. Now you know I love you and your opinion, and you did win the division over EBF and I in Z30, but isn't it just possible that it's not that all the video highlights are bad, but that he just isn't that good?
I think assumption is the lowest form of conversation. :yes: I have not rendered an opinion on Bush since December. That opinion merely stated that he is an unknown (while ranking him in the top ten of admittedly very premature rankings). I don't care for this class of backs, and that should be very clear to you by now. How many times have I said that?

We all know Bush's weaknesses and we all know he was working on them. I thought the 120 yards in 17 carries for 3 TDs against Kentucky showed a changed back. You cannot help but be impressed with the spin move and sick leg drive into the endzone with lowered pads. His pads come down and he hits it with great power. That's what we needed to see. And despite your comments above he was exploding through tacklers in that game. It was a very impressive night.

You cannot reasonably grade a back based on his highlights. I've argued that before and don't want to do it again. I can think of, and I'm sure Nowak can recall, a couple dozen remarkable big plays by Bush that do not appear in any of those highlights. This dude set the school record with 23 rushing TDs in 05 and he was soft, knew it, and promised to work on it. There's a few TDs in the highlights but anyone watching Sportscenter on Saturdays in O5 surely remembers some of those missing long runs, bodies bouncing off him, dragging LBs, outrunning safeties, soft hands, quick feet... just not much for power running and big contact. He drags people though. Look at the TD before the TD pass in your own highlights. I agree with Scott Wright. Bush has great balance. Sorry, but he does. You guys are seeing him getting tripped up by guys shooting at and hitting his feet. What a sorry set of highlights. He stumbles once, but go back and watch his feet getting taken out from under him. Any back goes down when that happens. I also agree he runs with great vision and patience. But when he slows down, it's pretty much the end of the play give or take a few more yards.

It's an unusual package in a big back. Guys his size don't have a great history of longevity. They are big targets. I chuckle when people worry about Garrett Wolfe's durability. I worry about the big guys. Okoye, Word, Butts, Means, others... not many long productive careers. Flashes of brilliance and they fade away.

But none of them were the athlete Bush is. I think he sticks around for a long time. He's got great hands. He could make a nice HBack. He will be good in pass pro and what a big target for a safety valve. If the Raiders can put together a legit NFL offense instead of that bed and breakfast attack they boasted, Bush is a great redzone player both as a runner and a receiver. He is money inside the 20. Will that ever matter? Will it increase his fantasy value? I plead ignorance.

So my opinion is a mixed bag like it is on so many of these backs this year. Forming definitive opinions is almost silly. Why do it? The most factual thing we can report about Bush is that he looked like he may have addressed his weaknesses and broke his leg, so we don't have enough film to be sure of much. Everything else, and I don't much care who publishes or posts it, is overly presumptuous to me.

Bush as a feature runner is probably too big a target and too slow of foot. He just doesn't gear up fast enough to be featured successfully, unless it's a full blown West Coast Offense that is constantly sending him to the edges and flats... HBack stuff again. His long speed is underrated though.

I think you have to disconnect from standard RB evaluation when a 6-2 250 pound dude is toting the rock. You have to play closer attention to the pressure he puts on the defense. The yards accumulated at the end of ugly clumsy runs. Those college boys wanted no part of him in some of those clips. Defenders slide off him where they probably take down a Kenny Irons or Lo Booker. Then he gets tripped up by someone smart enough to dive at his shoes and someone says he goes down on first contact and has poor balance.

He has value. Maybe more to the Raiders than us fantasy guys, but those 23 rushing TDs and his nose for the endzone are intriguing, as was the burst and power he displayed against Kentucky last year. I also thought he was valiant in the Gator Bowl the year before. Virginia Tech's defense was nasty and he went at them all day.

One of my current themes is that these guys look much the same in the NFL as they do in college. The old school arguments about what will and won't work in the NFL are breaking down. If it is working in the NCAA and the production is based on ability, then it's going to be diluted but similar in the NFL. Vince and Reggie didn't have a prayer in the NFL according to many. What they did only worked in college they argued. They looked pretty much the same to me, and they were both very good. Same with little Mo Drew. Same guy I loved at my alma mater. Cutler looked better in Denver than he did at Vandy. The college game has changed. It is more of an NFL farm system than ever and every conference is littered with ex NFL coaches.

Anyway Construx, I haven't dismissed anyone's opinions. I'm open minded to him being worthless indefinitely, or perhaps being a solid contributor. I do not see a feature back, fwiw.

And beating you and EBF in our division is not very impressive. ;)

 
Even as an avid U of L fan, I can't say much more than Chaos Commish already said. Bush is a freak of nature as an athlete. I don't really like the comparisons to shelton since I think Bush is much better even though they have similar measurables in size and weight. Like Chaos Commish pointed out, Bush's hands are exceptional and he is money in the red zone. At Male high school, he played quarterback against Trinity's Brian Brohm in the kentucky high school champtionship game, so you know Bush is a great athlete. The thing that worries me about Bush is that it looks like he runs too upright, but that could be due to him being 6'2". I don't think Bush would make the best featured back since he shared carries at louisville and his style of running doesn't seem to bode well for longevity, but I think getting Bush in the 4th round is a steal. I think he will contribute to a team in some way since he is versatile. I would not at all be surprised if Bush made a large impact on a team in a couple of years, but I agree with everyone that I can't seem him as a featured back.

 
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content....&CID=572307

bush highlights ... really i see nothing .. i see a big guy with no balance at all
And this is all you've seen? I'm not being sarcastic in asking. I am curious. Your opinion is certainly shared by a few I respect and have watched him quite a bit.
:bag: CC, I have to laugh man. This is the third highlight video (the YouTube one I reviewed for DraftGuys, the SportsIllustrated one and this Rivals one) that people agree makes him look overrated, but you dismiss. Now you know I love you and your opinion, and you did win the division over EBF and I in Z30, but isn't it just possible that it's not that all the video highlights are bad, but that he just isn't that good?
I think assumption is the lowest form of conversation. :wub: I have not rendered an opinion on Bush since December. That opinion merely stated that he is an unknown (while ranking him in the top ten of admittedly very premature rankings). I don't care for this class of backs, and that should be very clear to you by now. How many times have I said that?

We all know Bush's weaknesses and we all know he was working on them. I thought the 120 yards in 17 carries for 3 TDs against Kentucky showed a changed back. You cannot help but be impressed with the spin move and sick leg drive into the endzone with lowered pads. His pads come down and he hits it with great power. That's what we needed to see. And despite your comments above he was exploding through tacklers in that game. It was a very impressive night.

You cannot reasonably grade a back based on his highlights. I've argued that before and don't want to do it again. I can think of, and I'm sure Nowak can recall, a couple dozen remarkable big plays by Bush that do not appear in any of those highlights. This dude set the school record with 23 rushing TDs in 05 and he was soft, knew it, and promised to work on it. There's a few TDs in the highlights but anyone watching Sportscenter on Saturdays in O5 surely remembers some of those missing long runs, bodies bouncing off him, dragging LBs, outrunning safeties, soft hands, quick feet... just not much for power running and big contact. He drags people though. Look at the TD before the TD pass in your own highlights. I agree with Scott Wright. Bush has great balance. Sorry, but he does. You guys are seeing him getting tripped up by guys shooting at and hitting his feet. What a sorry set of highlights. He stumbles once, but go back and watch his feet getting taken out from under him. Any back goes down when that happens. I also agree he runs with great vision and patience. But when he slows down, it's pretty much the end of the play give or take a few more yards.

It's an unusual package in a big back. Guys his size don't have a great history of longevity. They are big targets. I chuckle when people worry about Garrett Wolfe's durability. I worry about the big guys. Okoye, Word, Butts, Means, others... not many long productive careers. Flashes of brilliance and they fade away.

But none of them were the athlete Bush is. I think he sticks around for a long time. He's got great hands. He could make a nice HBack. He will be good in pass pro and what a big target for a safety valve. If the Raiders can put together a legit NFL offense instead of that bed and breakfast attack they boasted, Bush is a great redzone player both as a runner and a receiver. He is money inside the 20. Will that ever matter? Will it increase his fantasy value? I plead ignorance.

So my opinion is a mixed bag like it is on so many of these backs this year. Forming definitive opinions is almost silly. Why do it? The most factual thing we can report about Bush is that he looked like he may have addressed his weaknesses and broke his leg, so we don't have enough film to be sure of much. Everything else, and I don't much care who publishes or posts it, is overly presumptuous to me.

Bush as a feature runner is probably too big a target and too slow of foot. He just doesn't gear up fast enough to be featured successfully, unless it's a full blown West Coast Offense that is constantly sending him to the edges and flats... HBack stuff again. His long speed is underrated though.

I think you have to disconnect from standard RB evaluation when a 6-2 250 pound dude is toting the rock. You have to play closer attention to the pressure he puts on the defense. The yards accumulated at the end of ugly clumsy runs. Those college boys wanted no part of him in some of those clips. Defenders slide off him where they probably take down a Kenny Irons or Lo Booker. Then he gets tripped up by someone smart enough to dive at his shoes and someone says he goes down on first contact and has poor balance.

He has value. Maybe more to the Raiders than us fantasy guys, but those 23 rushing TDs and his nose for the endzone are intriguing, as was the burst and power he displayed against Kentucky last year. I also thought he was valiant in the Gator Bowl the year before. Virginia Tech's defense was nasty and he went at them all day.

One of my current themes is that these guys look much the same in the NFL as they do in college. The old school arguments about what will and won't work in the NFL are breaking down. If it is working in the NCAA and the production is based on ability, then it's going to be diluted but similar in the NFL. Vince and Reggie didn't have a prayer in the NFL according to many. What they did only worked in college they argued. They looked pretty much the same to me, and they were both very good. Same with little Mo Drew. Same guy I loved at my alma mater. Cutler looked better in Denver than he did at Vandy. The college game has changed. It is more of an NFL farm system than ever and every conference is littered with ex NFL coaches.

Anyway Construx, I haven't dismissed anyone's opinions. I'm open minded to him being worthless indefinitely, or perhaps being a solid contributor. I do not see a feature back, fwiw.

And beating you and EBF in our division is not very impressive. :bye:
Outstanding reply as I expected. I do remember thinking he looked better against Kentucky, but still not powerful enough for his size. I guess that I think that big backs have to either run through defenders (see Earl Campbell) or have great balance and very quick feet (see Jerome Bettis) because they aren't going to be nimble enough to make people miss like a smaller back can. It's practically physics. More mass, harder to decelerate. :D I know that Bush doesn't run through defenders. I don't think his balance is very good, you think it is, but I think it's clear he doesn't have very quick feet like Bettis did. I just don't see him being a feature back and I am approaching this from a fantasy football rookie draft perspective. Could he be a good RBBC member? Possibly. But would you want to draft him 4th in this year's rookie draft for him to do that in a couple of years? I don't think so. :football:

And if EBF and I keep reaching on guys like Bush and Bowe, then you're right, beating us won't be impressive. ;)

 
I think since he didn't play more than one game in his last year you are banking a lot on his potential more than you are on his highlight reels. The guy only played the position for basically 3 years and with NFL coaching could be able to learn to utilize his size better and to run with more power. If he's got the work ethic to bear down and improve his weaknesses, his natural abilities provide a pretty devastating blow for opposing defenses. Worth a gamble in the mid first in a class weak on just about everything but WR. As for having shared carries, Ronnie Brown had always had the same situation and didn't have half as impressive of statistics as Bush in college but people saw enough in his natural athleticism and highlight reels to spend a top 3 pick on him (many the 1.01).

 
seems there are ALOT of people who agree BUSH will never be a feature RB .. which in fantasy football is what we are all looking for

 
I would think we've seen enough in the last few years to know that almost any back that's given the chance at a heavy workload has value. There was absolutely no reason people should've expected Willie Parker to not only find a niche in Pittsburgh, but to become a workhorse. There was no reason to think Mike Anderson would run for 1,500 yards as a rookie. There was no reason to think Nick Goings would run wild for Carolina. The list goes on and on.

Michael Bush could easily earn a starting job someday and flourish. Based on what we think we know of him, I can see where people might have varying opinions. But no one should be as definitive as to say he absolutely won't be productive or vice/versa.

 
I would think we've seen enough in the last few years to know that almost any back that's given the chance at a heavy workload has value. There was absolutely no reason people should've expected Willie Parker to not only find a niche in Pittsburgh, but to become a workhorse. There was no reason to think Mike Anderson would run for 1,500 yards as a rookie. There was no reason to think Nick Goings would run wild for Carolina. The list goes on and on.Michael Bush could easily earn a starting job someday and flourish. Based on what we think we know of him, I can see where people might have varying opinions. But no one should be as definitive as to say he absolutely won't be productive or vice/versa.
One of the best posts I read in a long while! :goodposting:
 
Jason Wood said:
I would think we've seen enough in the last few years to know that almost any back that's given the chance at a heavy workload has value. There was absolutely no reason people should've expected Willie Parker to not only find a niche in Pittsburgh, but to become a workhorse. There was no reason to think Mike Anderson would run for 1,500 yards as a rookie. There was no reason to think Nick Goings would run wild for Carolina. The list goes on and on.Michael Bush could easily earn a starting job someday and flourish. Based on what we think we know of him, I can see where people might have varying opinions. But no one should be as definitive as to say he absolutely won't be productive or vice/versa.
Probably the most sensible post in the thread thus far.and FWIW, from Peter King's '10 things I think I think' this week...
l. I think Michael Bush will win a rushing title -- if the Raiders ever get their offensive line fixed. Maybe around 2011
 
Has a lot of room to improve as a runner, but has a great mix of size and speed that give him some upside IMHO. Significantly better than Chris Henry for example.
He's slower, weaker, softer, and less explosive than Henry :thumbdown:
 
I think the most overhyped big back to come out in recent years was TJ Ducket. He was a big back who had absolutely no moves. It was like his hips were made of cement.

Pre Injury, Bush definitely showed a lot more than Ducket, especially as a pass catcher. He has more "wiggle" but does not compare to the best big back of our generation, Jerome Bettis. He just lacks Bettis initial burst through the line. What is not working in his favor, is his leg injury.

People keep talking about what a great pick that was for the Raiders, but I see a decent big back (A rich man's Zach Crockett) with some serious leg problems. I think ti was a terrible pick for the Raiders, who should have selected Antonio Pittman.

 
I think the most overhyped big back to come out in recent years was TJ Ducket. He was a big back who had absolutely no moves. It was like his hips were made of cement.Pre Injury, Bush definitely showed a lot more than Ducket, especially as a pass catcher. He has more "wiggle" but does not compare to the best big back of our generation, Jerome Bettis. He just lacks Bettis initial burst through the line. What is not working in his favor, is his leg injury. People keep talking about what a great pick that was for the Raiders, but I see a decent big back (A rich man's Zach Crockett) with some serious leg problems. I think ti was a terrible pick for the Raiders, who should have selected Antonio Pittman.
another WISE MAN !
 
Big East lover and UofL hater who has seen lots of MBush. Im not a fan. He reminds me of a poor-mans Bettis. I dont think his hands are that great, and Im not impressed with his speed. I dont think his game will transition well into the NFL. IMO I see him turning into a Lorenzo Neal type.

.02

 
Big East lover and UofL hater who has seen lots of MBush. Im not a fan. He reminds me of a poor-mans Bettis. I dont think his hands are that great, and Im not impressed with his speed. I dont think his game will transition well into the NFL. IMO I see him turning into a Lorenzo Neal type..02
Noted from this completely BIASED source. Can't wait to hear this "Slaton in the NFL" Discussion.The BUSH Bandwagon thread will be up shortly... AFTER I acquire him in all of my Dynasty drafts.
 

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