Reggie Bush Recollects Getting Drafted by Saints with Kevin Hart
Whether you knew it or not, Reggie Bush wasn't going to be the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2006. The Saints legend recently joined Kevin Hart on Laugh Out Loud Network's Cold As Balls show to discuss the story of what happened to him prior to being drafted, and talked about what it was like to go to New Orleans.
The way the draft unfolded, defensive end Mario Williams went to the Houston Texas as the first pick of the NFL draft, and the second pick went to New Orleans. According to Bush's story, he expected to go to Houston. The best part of what Bush said is the epitome of Sean Payton as a head coach.
"It was shocking, everything that we were told was: 'You are our guy, we are taking you number one." Bush said.
"And so we found out actually the night before on ESPN that I wasn't going number one, and everything they were telling us was you were gonna be the second pick and go to the New Orleans Saints."
"They called me and spoke to Sean Payton. 'You're our guy.' But the Jets had the third pick. My agents were thinking, we want to go to New York, we want to go to the New York Jets. Bright lights, big city. So they told Sean, 'Don't draft me.' Sean Payton, dead serious, is like, 'F You, I'm choosing Reggie Bush, he's coming to the Saints.' That was it."
Of course, the rest is history for Bush and the Saints, as he helped the team capture their first ever Super Bowl Trophy in 2009. However, it was his account of the harsh reality of New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that really hit home for him.
"After I know I'm drafted, I get on a plane, and we fly over the city I see all the devastation, and then we land, and immediately as we land they take me on a tour through the 9th Ward, as I'm going through there I'm seeing spray paint on the buildings of numbers of bodies that were found in the house. That really put life into perspective for me, you know, it really gives me this vote of confidence that this is my purpose. This is why I'm here. Because there was something bigger that dropped me in New Orleans where they needed somebody like me, and they needed somebody like Drew Brees and they needed somebody like Sean Payton, and we brought this team together, and then four years later we're able to win Super Bowl."
