Cedric Benson: He Deserves This Second Chance

I was sitting around yesterday wanting to write something, but not just an article about a game yesterday or someone being injured. I wanted to write something that would realy connect with people and after talking with fellow writer Ray Bogusz, I came up with this. Thanks Ray!

I have to admit that I was one of the first to get on the case of Cedric Benson when he was a bust as a Chicago Bear on the field and in his life off the field, but after researching Cedric, I was able to learn a lot about the young man.

Cedric Myron Benson was born December 28, 1982 in Midland, Texas.

As a young man, Benson found a passion for sports and became a stand out athlete in baseball and football. Cedric started gaining attention as an eight grader playing football at Robert E. Lee middle school. In high school, Benson led his team to three straight state championship games. He ended his high school football career with 8,423 yards rushing, which is the most in Texas 5A history and fourth in Texas high school football. Benson also was a center fielder for his school baseball team.

Now, here is the most interesting thing I found out Benson. In 2001, Cedric was drafted in the 12th round of the MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Even though he never made it up to the big show, he played in the Dodgers minor league team the Gulf Coast League Dodgers. In 25 at bats with the team, he had five hits, two triple, three doubles and two RBI.

After realizing his future was in football, Benson left the Dodgers organization to pursue his football career.

The first step to that was attending the University of Texas at Austin. While there, Cedric was a four year starter at running back and in 2004 he earned the Doak Walker Award.

Before leaving Texas for the NFL, Benson amassed 5,540 yards which was second only to a guy people compared Benson to in Ricky Williams. One thing Benson tried to do was to distance himself from Williams because of his bad image, but with the same body type running style, it was hard to do.

The dreads and off field incidents did not help either. While in college Benson was arrested for possession of marijuana and trespassing. Cedric majored in Social work and sociology while attending college.

Then, and everyone knows this next chapter in his life, so we will make this part brief: Benson was the 4thoverall pick by the Chicago Bears in the 2005 NFL Draft.

The problems for the young mans NFL career started when he was a hold out and no show for Bears training camp that year. After a month of holding out, Benson signed a five year $35 million contract. When he finally showed at practice, Benson told reporters that even with the time he missed, he would be starting by the third game of the season.

According to Benson, those comments were not taken lightly by his teammates. It went as far as Fox Sports Jay Glazer reporting that Bears players were trying to intentionally injure Benson in practices. As a Bear, Benson was never able to establish himself due to multiple injuries and the emergence of guys like Thomas Jones.

When things started to look better for Benson, they ended up only getting worst. After the Bears 2006 Super Bowl appearance, Chicago parted ways with running-back Thomas Jones with a trade to the New York Jets.

That opened the door for Benson who was tagged as the running back of the future in Chicago. In a disappointing 2007 season, Benson racked up only 674 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games. During the off season, the Bears decided to use the draft to find someone to compliment Benson in the back field.

Chicago drafted running back Matt Forte in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft.The plan was to have the two battle it out in training camp for the starting job. We all know how that worked out.

Then, Cedric Benson was arrested in his first of two alcohol related arrests.

Now when this happened I was one of many Bears fans and football fans in general to call for him to be cut by the Bears. He was arrested for allegedly failing a field sobriety test while operating a boat on the Colorado River.

According to police, Benson failed his test and was then put in handcuffs and arrested. They then say that Benson became violent towards them and they pepper sprayed him. According to Benson and witnesses on the boat, Benson was never in handcuffs or did he become violent.

They also claimed that Benson requested that he take another test on land when he was sprayed. He also claims that when he was cuffed, officers beat his legs and ankles so that he could not walk.

Benson was quoted as saying “I’m not handcuffed. I’m not under arrest. I’m not threatening him. I’m not pushing him. I’m not touching him. And he sprays me."

A second arrest in June of 2008 was the one that cost Benson his job with the Bears. After parting ways with Chicago, Benson was unable to find work and just waited for a phone call. He finally got it from the Cincinnati Bengals after week 5 of this season. He has rushed for 241 yards in three starts with team.

I want to end this with an apology to the young man.

Why?

One is because we may never know if Benson was in the wrong in his first arrest, considering he has been cleared of all charges and because I have seen how dirty some cops can be.

Second, because in today's NFL you have a lot of guys making mistakes like your Adam "Pacman" Jones' and guys who are bad teammates like your T.O's. Now they have all had their second chances, and third and fourth. I never got on their case and always wanted to see them in the game.

I did not give Benson that second chance and I do not think many did. So as a Bears fan and a football fan in general, I want Cedric Benson to have success in his future NFL career. I want to see him find a home with the Bengals and hope he can help them back to their playoff caliber self.

Here is to Cedric and to his future career, that he stay out of trouble and in his second chance I hope he helps make NFL football continue to be the best. The only advice I can give is to stay respectful of the game, your teammates and coaches. You can't do it on your own.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?