Reggie Bush is a realist.

He knows there is no way the New Orleans Saints are going to pay him close to $12 million next season.

To that end, the running back said he is open to a restructured contract, something he knows he’ll need to stay with the team that drafted him second overall in 2006.

“Common sense would tell you probably not,” Bush said today, according to WWL-TV. “But most likely not. We’ll see what happens.”

Bush was paid $8 million this season when he was injury plagued again with a broken right fibula, and the deal calls for him to be paid $11.8 million in 2011, a figure you know the Saints will not pay.

“I’m open to whatever is going to help me stay here,” Bush said. “Obviously, with that said, you have to be fair to yourself. You have to be fair to whatever the market sets. I’m not stupid or dumb. I know that obviously there’s going to have to be some type of restructuring going on here. With that said, you’ve just got to kind of hash it out as best as you can. Negotiations, things can go a million different ways.

“My No. 1 goal is to be back here, be a New Orleans Saint and hopefully be able to play my career out here.”

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune