Cedric Benson

Cedric Myron Benson (December 28, 1982 – August 17, 2019) was an American professional football player who spent eight years as a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns and won the Doak Walker Award in 2004. He was selected by Chicago with the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft.

Benson began to emerge as a football stand-out in the eighth grade while attending Abell Junior High School in Midland, Texas. Benson attended Robert E. Lee High School in Midland and finished his high-school playing career with 8,423 rushing yards (the most in Texas 5A history, largest classification at the time and the fourth-most in Texas high school football history). He led his team to three consecutive state championships and rushed for a total of 15 touchdowns in the three championship games. Benson rushed for more than 1,900 yards in only nine games. He rushed for over 3,500 yards (51 touchdowns) during his junior year, when his team went undefeated and won state and national championships. He became the first high-school player to appear on the cover of the Dave Campbell's Texas Football annual magazine. Benson was also a center fielder on the baseball team. As a senior, in District 4-5A games, he hit .361 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.

Benson attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a four-year starter for the Longhorns football team. As a senior in 2004, he won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back and was recognized as a first-team All-American. He finished his college career with 5,540 rushing yards to rank tenth all-time in NCAA Division I-A history, and second only to Ricky Williams in Longhorns team history.

He was often compared to Williams because of similarities in running style, college choice suspensions, appearance (roughly the same size and build in college, and both with dreadlocks early in their careers) and the fact that they had both been minor-league baseball players.

While at Texas, Benson majored in social work and sociology. He was included on the Texas athletics directors' academic honor roll and the Big 12 commissioner's honor roll in Fall 2003. While in college, Benson was arrested twice, once for possession of marijuana and the other for trespassing. The marijuana case was dropped after a friend claimed responsibility. Benson was sentenced to eight days in jail for the trespassing conviction, but he spent no time in prison because of overcrowding at the Travis County Jail. He was forced to serve a one-half game suspension against Baylor University.

The Chicago Bears selected Benson in the first round with the fourth overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. Although Benson and his family were overjoyed when he was drafted, with Benson moved to tears, he and the Bears strongly disagreed on contract terms prior to the draft. After a 36-day contract holdout, Benson and the Bears finally agreed to a five-year contract worth $35 million, with a $16 million signing bonus. The Bears wished to make Benson their feature running back, but his lengthy contract impasse had caused him to miss the team's entire training camp. Benson claimed that he received a cold reception upon his return because he bragged that he would become the starter by the Bears' third game despite the holdout and lack of practice. Jay Glazer reported that certain players attempted to intentionally injure him during practice.

The team temporarily made Thomas Jones their featured running back for the beginning of the 2005 season. Jones' performance impressed the Bears' coaching staff and earned him the top spot on the team's depth chart for the next two seasons. Benson occasionally received playing time, and he rushed for 80 yards on 16 carries against the New Orleans Saints in his best game. However, shortly after the game, he suffered a medial collateral ligament sprain and missed most of the remaining season.

After 2005, the Bears considered making Benson the team's starting running back after Jones was unhappy with his contract status. The team's plans went astray when Benson injured his shoulder after colliding with Brian Urlacher during a routine scrimmage. Although the injury was not serious, it placed Benson on the sidelines for a majority of the preseason.