Salary Cap No Friend to Reggie Bush Show
The New Orleans Saints are rich in running backs, or they are running back poor - depending on which way you look at it.

You can't argue this: They sport two extremely rich running backs.

Deuce McAllister is in the third year of an eight-year, $50 million-plus contract. Reggie Bush is in the second year of a reported six-year, $62 million pact. As is the case with most long-term NFL contracts, the salaries escalate toward the end of the deals.

The obvious question: With the salary cap being what it is, how long can the Saints afford to invest so much cash in one position?

The most obvious answer: Not for long.

But maybe we shouldn't jump to that conclusion.

Asked that question Tuesday afternoon, McAllister grinned before he answered.

"I don't know, but I do know this: Winning cures all ills," McAllister said. "The most important thing is for the two of us to help the team win. If we're winning, it'll work out. Then we'll see how long it goes."

But McAllister, a successful businessman himself and a pro in every sense of the word, knows that there is a bottom line. And he knows that in pro sports today, it is harder and harder to keep a successful team together.

"It's the saddest thing in sports to watch championship teams like the Lakers or Bulls get broken up, but that's the way it is in sports today," McAllister said. "Not that we've achieved that much yet. We haven't reached the Super Bowl yet, much less won one."

And while McAllister makes no secret that he would prefer to play his entire career in the Gulf South region, where most, if not all, of his non-football business interests are, he knows there could come a time when he has to move.

"It's a business," he said. "There comes a time for most players when you either are released, you restructure (your contract) or you decide to move on."

For most running backs that time comes around the age of 30. McAllister will turn 29 this December.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis insists that he and the Saints view McAllister as a long-term investment.

"Deuce's value to this franchise is much more than the yards he gains," Loomis said. "I told him when we signed him to the long-term deal that we were paying him that kind of money because we thought he was the type person who can lead us to the Super Bowl. He's a leader. He is a leader on the field and off the field."

BOTH MAKE SACRIFICES

Say this for McAllister - and Bush, for that matter - it's difficult to imagine two players handling their share-the-ball-and-spotlight situation better than the two have.

McAllister was accustomed to being "The Man" when it comes to Saints running backs. He is, after all, the Saints all-time leading ground gainer and had rushed for about 4,500 yards before Bush became a Saint.

Bush came to the Saints as one of college football's most celebrated players ever. He went from being No. 1 in college football to being No. 2 on the Saints depth chart.

Both make sacrifices that must be hard to swallow, as competitive as both guys are. With the game on the line and the Saints in the two-minute drill, Deuce often finds himself on the sidelines watching Bush.

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