Who had the better football career and legacy... Reggie Bush or Fred Jackson? (2 Viewers)

[LawFitz]

Not sure. Looked up zero facts. None. Zilp. But my gut thought is Fred Jax.

 

[travdogg]

Jackson was a better runner, and Bush was a better receiver. I kinda want to lean Jackson, as he was on some bad Bills teams, while Bush was winning a Super Bowl in NO.

 

[menobrown]

Reggie easy.

 

[Biabreakable]

Bush.

 

[FarFromHome]

I googled "compare Reggie Bush and Fred Jackson" and a link to this thread popped up. No matter the answer we are making history boys!!

 

[TheWinz]

I am going with Jackson, but Bush was a great receiver

 

[Chaka]

Bush was a better receiver

Bush was a great receiver

Jackson 74.1% catch rate, 8.2 y/r
Reggie 72.1% catch rate, 7.5 y/r

 

[wgoldsph]

Jackson was never /the guy/ even when he was the lead back. More of a grinder.
Bush was electric. I go for electric every time.


Of course this is not looking at any stats.

 

[Terpman22]

Mario Williams

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Bush was a better receiver

Bush was a great receiver

Jackson 74.1% catch rate, 8.2 y/r
Reggie 72.1% catch rate, 7.5 y/r

No dog in this fight but again- unless the two guys are running the same routes in the same scheme under the same weather conditions at the same down and distance against the same defensive players with the same overall health - none of these numbers are comparable.

It’s ironic to me that stat people miss the most important part of the stats - they aren’t equal situations.

 

[Marauder]

Based on the way you worded the question (Football instead of NFL) we have to include their college careers. If it was just their NFL careers, it's very close and depends on whether you value peak performance (Bush) or consistency (Jackson). However, for their Football career and legacy, Bush is the easy winner.

 

[LawFitz]

Bush was a better receiver

Bush was a great receiver

Jackson 74.1% catch rate, 8.2 y/r
Reggie 72.1% catch rate, 7.5 y/r

No dog in this fight but again- unless the two guys are running the same routes in the same scheme under the same weather conditions at the same down and distance against the same defensive players with the same overall health - none of these numbers are comparable.

It’s ironic to me that stat people miss the most important part of the stats - they aren’t equal situations.

Sure, but it's like red delicious vs. fuji, rather than oranges. There is value is comparing stats - especially NFL vs. NFL during the same era - as one point of assessment.

The preseason prior to Jackson's rookie year, a buddy Bills fan drafted him with his last pick. None of the rest of us knew the name, and speaking to him afterward, he was adamant that FJax was going to be the Bills version of Reggie Bush, arguing that this UDFA rookie had very similar skills/ability as the prior-year #2 overall. Rolled my eyes to near the back of my head during that convo, but ultimately, my friend was way more right than wrong... At least if you compare their career stats.

From Scrimmage:
FJax - 5746 rushing @4.4 YPA + 354/2897/8.2 YPC across 9 seasons
Bush - 5490 rushing @4.3 YPA + 477/3598/7.5 YPC across 11 seasons

Returns:
FJax - Punts: 16/190/11.9 YPR; Kicks: 56/1241/22.2
Bush - Punts: 102/794/7.8 YPR; Kicks: 6/135/22.5

Touchdowns:
Bush - 36 rush + 18 rec + 4 ret = 58
FJax - 30 rush + 9 rec + 0 ret = 39

Bush started 96 games to Jackson's 61.

Bush made the playoffs four times, including a 2009 Superbowl run, where he was a high-level compliment/complement, avging ~6 carries and ~3 catches per game across three post-season games at 6.9 YPA and 9.5 YPR. FJax made the playoffs just once, in his last season, as a minor role player for the Seahawks.

Bush played with Drew Brees and for Sean Payton for his first five years, where he was gradually phased down in role and effectiveness, before leaving to resurrect his career across three solidly productive post-Saint seasons with Mia and Det, playing with Chad Henne, Ryan Tannehill and Matt Stafford. FJax played with a bunch of pre-Josh Allen Bills teams with the following QBs: JP Losman, Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, EJ Manuel and Kyle Orton.

Stat wise, I give the edge to FJax, but it's not a huge variance, unless you contextualize with the idea that Bush may have played on signficantly better offenses.

If you include collegiate legacies, Bush had the better overall career IMO; but if we are talking just NFL, there is a solid case for FJax having been the better player.

 

[eighsse2]

Like you, I'm not looking anything up, just gut reaction.

Football (which is what you stated): Bush
But if specifically NFL: Jackson

 

[menobrown]

Based on the way you worded the question (Football instead of NFL) we have to include their college careers. If it was just their NFL careers, it's very close and depends on whether you value peak performance (Bush) or consistency (Jackson). However, for their Football career and legacy, Bush is the easy winner.

Agreed, especially with the use of the word legacy.

Hate to sound harsh but people will or have already forgot FJAX. That's a name no one ever brings up. Anyone old enough to watch Reggie in college will never forget him.

Other then that I still think Reggie was better. He broke out as a rusher later in his career and his rushing production is pretty much on par with Jacksons. Their receiving stats are also pretty close but I think Reggie was getting way more focus and attention, comping their stats does do it justice.

So to me bottom line I think Reggie was better, will concede it's debatable, but in terms of legacy of football career it's not close.

 

[Anarchy99]

Career Earnings:
Bush - $63.2 million
Jackson - $18.4 million

All Purpose Yards:
Jackson - 10,074
Bush - 10,001

YFS:
Bush - 9,088
Jackson - 8,643

HOF Monitor Score
Bush - 32.28
Jackson - 21.55

Career AV:
Bush - 72
Jackson - 57

Not sure Bush warranted making almost 3.5x what Jackson made over their careers.

 

[Chaka]

Bush was a better receiver

Bush was a great receiver

Jackson 74.1% catch rate, 8.2 y/r
Reggie 72.1% catch rate, 7.5 y/r

No dog in this fight but again- unless the two guys are running the same routes in the same scheme under the same weather conditions at the same down and distance against the same defensive players with the same overall health - none of these numbers are comparable.

It’s ironic to me that stat people miss the most important part of the stats - they aren’t equal situations.

Sure, I won't argue that. But it's also an easy out because nothing can be compared. There is no way of knowing if Joe Montana was better than Rodney Pete. It bums me out that I can't tell how much better Andy Reid is as a coach than Rich Kotite. Or how much worse Walter Payton was than Christine Michael.

So we can either shut down JB's site or work with what we have.

 

[Chaka]

More data about their respective careers.

Bush played five seasons with Drew Brees at QB & two seasons with Matthew Stafford. He played seven seasons in a dome, along with two in Miami and one in SF.

Jackson had Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, EJ Manuel, Kyle Orton as his primary QBs and played eight seasons in Buffalo and one in Seattle.

Fred Jackson also didn't take his first NFL snap until he was 26 years old.

Bush's year over year longest rush play and longest pass play sorted by distance:
76 77
65 74
55 42
43 34
39 29
26 28
23 25
22 25
18 25
9 20
5 8

Fred Jackson
80 65
59 65
43 54
39 49
38 37
32 34
27 34
16 26
15 21

I'm actually a huge Reggie Bush fan but there is a legitimate argument that Fred Jackson was a much better NFL player.

 

[kutta]

One dated Kim Kardashian. I’ll go with that one.