More than two years after making the stunning decision to pass on running back Reggie Bush with the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, the Houston Texans might have provided a hint as to the supposed football reason for leaving him on the board.

Offensive coordinator Kyle “Kevlar Jr.” Shanahan, whose career continues to ascend despite having the initials of Chris Simms tattooed on his leg, mentioned Bush while discussing Steve Slaton, a similarly-sized running back whom the Texans took in round three this year.

“You look at guys around the league like Kevin Faulk, a guy like Reggie Bush; guys who come in and fill a specific role on third downs,” Shanahan said.  “I think when a guy is 197 pounds and if you look at the history throughout the NFL there are not too many guys that are first and second down player for long periods of time.  When you look at a guy that people are projecting as a third down type guy or a change of pace guy I believe a lot of teams have more important needs that go early in the draft.  One exception is Reggie Bush; he is the highest guy that I’ve seen go that is a third-down type player.  The third round is when these guys start popping out.”

So, basically, Shanahan thinks Bush is a third-down type player.  Which is an accurate assessment of him now.

But no one viewed Bush that way at the time.  And that’s another reason why we never know what a great college player is going to do against NFL competition until he is actually pitted against NFL competition.   

As to Slaton, a scout told us after eyeballing a West Virginia practice in 2006 that Slaton was in many ways comparable to Bush.  In 2006, Slaton’s performance was equivalent to Bush’s college exploits as well.

But something happened to Slaton prior to the 2007 season.  Maybe he decided to bulk up to the point that he lost his pop.  Or maybe he was hoping not to get Michael Bushed when what once seemed to be a first-round payday was within reach. 

If Slaton gets that something back, then he could end up having an even bigger impact that Bush.  Two years ago, that really would have been saying something.