CNATI: Cincinnati OH Sports Journalism

Cincinnati Bengals

Out-running his reputation

By Scott Priestle, CNATI.com Posted October 21, 2009 3:14 PM ET

When Cedric Benson arrived in Cincinnati last year, he joined an underperforming offense with struggling blockers. It was not an ideal situation for a running back, but second chances rarely are.

If Benson took for granted his first chance at NFL success, as the fourth overall pick of the 2005 draft by the Chicago Bears, he was determined to earn his redemption with the Bengals. His new teammates recognized it from day one.

"I don't think I would have got through the year without him," tight end Daniel Coats said.

Coats played fullback last season for the first time in his career, and his inexperience was a factor in the offense's inability to open holes for the running backs.

"I wasn't the greatest at it," Coats said. "(Benson) could have said, `My fullback sucks; what can I do?' but he took it the other way, like, `How can I make him better so we all get better?' "

Benson worked with Coats on a regular basis, explaining how he reads a defense, how he sets up a block and what Coats should be seeing.

"He didn't put me down, but he told me, `We need more from you,' " Coats said. "He's definitely a leader-type, a take-charge personality. And a ridiculous hard worker. Ced is giving 100 percent every day. That's one of the things that makes him great: He never stops."

Benson is third in the NFL in rushing entering a game this weekend against the Bears, and he is on pace to challenge the single-season franchise record of 1,458 yards.

Perhaps most impressive, by not stopping since he reached Cincinnati, Benson is out-running the reputation that made him a pariah in Chicago.

He was released in June 2008 after three disappointing seasons, two alcohol-related arrests and numerous upset teammates. Charges were dropped in both arrests, and since joining the Bengals 13 months ago, Benson has been productive and popular. His former team will get an up-close look this Sunday.

"I know he's had this date circled for a long time," Bears linebacker Lance Briggs said. "In Chicago, he used to think that we were cheap-shotting him in practice. Now he can get his revenge."

Benson insisted he is not concerned with vendettas, only victories. But he acknowledged that he feels "more accepted here" than he ever did with the Bears.

"I've found a way to make things work with what was given to me here," Benson said.

`A whole lot of drama'

He arrived in Chicago as the hotshot prospect on a team that already had a respected and productive veteran running back in Thomas Jones, whose job suddenly was in jeopardy.

"That was a whole lot of drama right there," Briggs said. "That just really set the stage for what ended up happening."

Benson held out into training camp of his rookie year, then suffered a knee injury in the team's ninth game. He played well enough in the second half of his second year that the Bears allowed Jones to leave, but the quiet, confident Benson was convinced that folks in the organization did not want him there -- so much so that, as Briggs indicated, he told reporters that some of the team's defensive players went out of their way to hit him during practice.

As the starter in 2007, Benson averaged a middling 3.4 yards per carry and 61.3 yards per game in 11 games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. He also was slowed by injury during the 2006 postseason, so questions arose about his toughness.

Benson was arrested in May 2008 for boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest, then arrested again five weeks later for suspicion of driving while intoxicated, prompting the Bears to release him. "Disappointment is too much an often-used word when we're talking about Cedric," general manager Jerry Angelo told reporters at the time.

All charges were dropped, but Benson sat at home for 3 ½ months, unwanted by an NFL team.

The Bengals, who were tiring of their own first-round disappointment in Chris Perry, eventually invited him for a workout. Bears officials gave him a strong endorsement, and Benson showed he still had the skills that made him the fourth overall pick.

"I'm all for Cedric getting another chance," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.

A different image

Benson immediately impressed his new coaches and teammates with his willingness to stay late and his ability to learn the playbook. They did not see the arrogant loner he was reputed to be.

"I heard all the negative stuff about the DUIs and stuff when he was in Chicago, how they were trying to say he was a bust," receiver Andre Caldwell said. "But here he's been a great guy. A hard worker."

Quarterback Carson Palmer said his image of Benson today is the opposite of his image of Benson a year ago.

"I let the media affect the way I felt about him," Palmer said. "I read stories ... and had heard a lot of bad things, because that's what a lot of people wrote about him -- bad things. Then I met him and I still wasn't sure because he didn't seem like a bad guy, and now I've been around him for two years and he comes over to my house for dinner and we hang out and I'm around him a lot at the facility, we work out together. None of the stuff I read was true.

"I don't know exactly what happened. I don't care what happened. Since he's been here, he's wanted to win as bad as anyone in the locker room, if not more. He's worked to be successful. He's worked to learn the playbook. He does all the little extra things you ask of a guy. More importantly, he's been a leader. He's been a model teammate since he's been here."

Benson said the time away from football forced him to change his approach, on and off the field. But the biggest change, he said, is how his teammates and coaches view him. He feels at ease with the Bengals in a way he never did with the Bears.

"I think probably 98 percent of it was perception," Benson said. "It was only like a year ago that I was there, a year and a half ago. How much can a person change in a year? I am who I am. I've always been this way."

On the field, he has been a near-perfect fit for the Bengals zone-blocking attack, which requires the running back to be patient as a hole opens, then quick to the hole and able to recognize cut-back lanes. Benson also is strong enough to carry the ball 20 or more times per game without slowing.

"He wants the ball on every possession," fullback Jeremi Johnson said. "It doesn't matter if it's first-and-long, first-and-short, second-and-long, second-and-short. A lot of running backs aren't like that. Even when we're down, he wants the ball. That's a great thing for a fullback."

Benson has even been comfortable in the spotlight, granting lengthy interviews with Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine while consistently being accessible to local reporters. The glare will be particularly bright for a few more days. FOX no doubt will make him a centerpiece of its broadcast Sunday.

By Monday, perhaps, Benson will have finally and completely outrun Chicago.

"I came here when the team needed a lift and I provided that. I was on the path to coming up, and the Bengals got a piece of it," he said with a smile. "If there's any feeling of stuff being proven, I'm doing that during the season with the task that I have here, and that's executing my job."

 

Categories: Cincinnati Bengals, Featured Stories, Features

Tags: Bears, Carson Palmer, Cedric Benson, Daniel Coats, Lance Briggs