After several weeks of verbal silence and odd Twitter messages, New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush finally had something say over the weekend.

His professed his love and commitment to the Saints.

"I would love to retire here if possible," Bush said to the media attending his camp Saturday. "I would love to play for the Saints for however long my career, God willing, allows me to play. First and foremost, I want to be a Saint."

That is in contrast to two Twitter messages he sent out to followers. A little over a week ago, he tweeted about how he was enjoying himself during this NFL lockout period where the players and teams can have no contact. That remark drew the ire of many of his followers.

Bush also tweeted during last month’s NFL draft, “It’s been fun New Orleans,” after the Saints drafted Alabama running back Mark Ingram in the first round. The perception is Bush presumed his injury-plagued run with the Saints was done.

But now Bush, who is due $11.8 million, is singing a different tune. No matter what he says publically to smooth things over, he will either have to agree to a pay cut and the Saints will be forced to cut ties with him once the lockout is over.

"Obviously sometimes you write things and you say things and it may come off the wrong way," said Bush, who was stripped of his Heisman Trophy after it was found he received impermissible gifts while playing for USC. "It may be taken the wrong way. You may not even mean it that way or you may regret it. At the end of the day, I probably shouldn't have tweeted that and I probably shouldn't have said that and I'm sure a lot of people took it the wrong way and I apologize to the city of New Orleans if they have."

Those may have been the smartest words Bush has spoken in months.

(Photo: AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)