The San Francisco 49ers got a portion of one season out of running back Reggie Bush, and odds are probably decent he will not be back for another year. However, he does plan on playing somewhere. Bush told reporters this past week that he does not intend on retiring just yet.
"I'm not retiring," Bush told reporters in San Francisco on Sunday. "I'm still playing. No, I'm not done. And I would never -- knock on wood -- I never want to end my career like that, going out with that."
Bush suffered a knee injury against the St. Louis Rams when he slipped on the cement outer ring of the field level. He suffered an MCL tear that ended his season, and is now suing the city of St. Louis and the stadium for his injury. Josh McCown suffered an injury on the cement the week prior, and it seems likely that Bush will be able to get some kind of settlement out of this.
Bush dealt with multiple injuries during his time with the 49ers. The team kept him out of a lot of preseason action, with only a handful of special teams snaps in the third preseason game. That really didn't help as he got hurt during the season and missed extended stretches. He played a bit, but was not overly effective.
Chip Kelly now joins a team with a group of running backs that includes Bush, Carlos Hyde, Mike Davis, Shaun Draughn, Kendall Gaskins, DuJuan Harris, and Jarryd Hayne. Draughn is a restricted free agent, Bush is unrestricted, and Gaskins is an exclusive rights free agent. I would say Draughn could be tendered fairly cheap, but who knows what adjustments the team will make now that Chip Kelly will be installing some version of his offensive philosophy. Trent Baalke has final say on the 53-man roster, but I imagine there will be plenty of input from Kelly.