Michael Bush signed 'for the long haul,' but almost gave up playing in NFL again

The Arizona Cardinals signed veteran running back Michael Bush on Tuesday. Head coach Bruce Arians talked about the need of a big back to close out the game.

On Wednesday, reporters asked Arians about Bush and also were able to talk to Bush himself.

One thing was made pretty clear -- if Cardinals fans were expecting Bush to jump right in against the Atlanta Falcons this weekend, they will be disappointed.

"The problem is we don't have many padded practices left and this will not be one of them, so it will be very hard to get him up to seed as fast as we want to," Arians explained to reporters. "We didn't sign him for this week; we signed him for the long haul."

Arians said it would be "pretty hard" for him to give carries to Bush.

Arians indicated there were discussions about Bush for about three weeks and they decided to pull the trigger. "Whether it's a major addition or a minor one, we'll wait and see," he said.

Arians said Bush has "very light feet for a big man, so he can jump and cut a little bit and get north, something we haven't really had since Jonathan (Dwyer) was lost."

But he wouldn't say that the addition of Bush would mean less carries for Andre Ellington, although it would make sense.

Bush is happy to be back in the league after he was cut by the Chicago Bears in the offseason.

He says, in terms of skill set, he can "do it all," a guy "that gets it done." He said his size gives him the stigma or being just a short yardage or goalline back. That doesn't mean he would be unhappy playing that role. "If that's your role, that's your role," he told reporters on Wedesday.

Bush confirmed what Arians said about doing much against the Falcons. "I don't think I'll be involved too much unless it's on special teams," he said.

The whole 'happy to be here' attitude is understandable. He was jobless for he first 12 weeks of the season. he said "it was tough" having to watch football on TV and not get that call.

In fact, he had almost given up on getting another chance. At age 30, running backs don't frequently get many chances.

"It was winding down," he said. "I was almost about to cut back from working out."

He said it is a tough thing to experience because "you love the game so much."

"You don't want it to be the end, but it's not the end of the world," he continued. "I was looking forward to (going) back to school and start my second career."

Bush left college early to play in the NFL. He would go back to school "just to finish graduating."

Does he know what he is going to do for his second career? "I don't know," he said, laughing. "I'm going to figure it out."

Getting picked up by the Cardinals for the home stretch and ideally a postseason berth,  Bush can put that on hold for now.