Reggie Bush was one of the most exciting football players of his generation.
But the USC legend had a bit of a bumpy NFL road after being a top draft pick of the New Orleans Saints.
Bush lasted 11 seasons, but some of them were a struggle. Injuries made a major impact on his career that was spent across the Saints, Dolphins, Lions, 49ers and Bills.
Bush revealed more about the injuries in a new interview with GQ, in which he also said the injuries have impacted his post-playing life.
Here's what Bush shared:
I'll just run through it real quick. My second year in the NFL, I tore my PCL. That's the posterior cruciate ligament. That basically wraps around the back of your knee, and that is part of a couple different tendons and ligaments that keep the knee stable and strong. I tore that, and doctors advised me not to repair it, because they said I would heal quickly and get back faster on the field. I wish I never did that. But listening to NFL doctors, I didn't do surgery on it, so I actually don't have a PCL anymore in my left knee.
Then the next year, my third year in the league, I tore my medial meniscus, which is on the interior portion of your knee. That led to microfracture surgery. Microfracture is very tough. For a lot of people, it is usually career ending. Basically what they do is drill holes in the bone—literally, with a drill! Because of wear and tear in that area, I had no cartilage in between my knees. The interior portion of my left knee was bone-on-bone, and that was year four in the NFL. I ended up playing 11 years.
The doctors told me at that time I probably wouldn't play longer than another three years. We talk about it lightly and loosely, but coming back from injury—especially the injury I came back from—is one of the toughest things that you can possibly do in your career. I still have pain from it. I still get swelling in my left knee from it. It still limits me in certain ways. But again, because I focused on strengthening and staying flexible and all these different things—and I wear orthotics as well—it helps with alleviating the pain, being able to walk, and still continuing some sports.
When you read that, it's amazing Bush stuck around as long as he did in the NFL.
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The 2006 No. 2 overall pick won a Super Bowl and had a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
Bush never was a full-time running back with the Saints, but he had seasons of 88 and 73 catches.
His two seasons in Miami were great, with 1,086 rushing and 296 receiving in 2011 and then 986 and 292 in year two.
Bush went back over 1K with 1,006 yards in 2013 for Detroit that went along with 54 catches for 506 yards.
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He limped to the finish line from there with three underwhelming seasons, but such is the life of an NFL running back.
Bush, according to the GQ interview, now uses his athletic talents in a different way: golf.
But his gridiron greatness won't soon be forgotten.
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