calkins's Blog

Two tall Texan talents leave the NFL on the same day with decidedly different tales. Michael the maven of sacks, a lock for the Hall of Fame. Benson a bust of a back, on and off the field, a shameful example of wasted opportunity.

Michael Strahan, pride of Westbury High School and then Texas Southern, exits as a defensive giant, arguable the Giants all-time defensive end.

Cedric Benson, one of the great state’s great whiz kid runners and a Texas Longhorn back second only to Earl and Ricky. But as a Chicago Bear a nasty and nonsensical habit of running amok on the streets. And on the waters.

Strahan retires strictly on his own terms, with nothing left in the tank after 15 seasons in the violent trenches, with seven Pro Bowls, the single-season record for quarterback traps, a glittering Super Bowl ring in one of the super duper upsets in league history. No amount of money, no ego stroke, was incentive enough to return.

No sympathy or empathy or explanation can defuse Benson’s apparent career death wish. No one with two brain cells working simultaneously could slump to such rank behavior over a few short weeks – speeding through a Chicago construction zone at more than 70 mph, boating on Lake Austin while intoxicated then resisting arrest, running a red light in the wee hours of an Austin morning and driving while drunk.

Sad Ced flunking tests for sobriety and intelligence in equally alarming rates. Already suffering under the lable of under-achiever thanks to less than four yards per carry since tabbed by the Bears with the fourth pick of the 2005 draft.

And then an off-season spent operating behind the wheel while juiced while operating with the thinnest line of margins under the watchful eye of the NFL’s not-so-sudden no-tolerance policy for knuckle-headedness.

Step into the way-back machine. Cedric Benson racking yards and touchdowns and state titles like few in a state that spits out blue chip running back like few others.

There’s Benson as a 15-year-old sophomore at Midland Lee, piling up a 2,000 yard season, with 30 touchdowns and a 5A championship game rout by a half hundred...

Here’s Benson a year later bamming for more than 3,500 yards and 51 TDs and a second runaway run for Lee to the state crown...

Over there Benson as a senior schoolboy and 255 yards and five touchdowns to cement the 5A three-peat...

His final high school chart - more than 8,400 career rushing yards and 127 trips to the end zone.

In the Mount Rushmore of high school running backs from Texas, you can effectively argue that Benson belongs next to Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Doak Walker.

The four-year ramblings at UT much more of the same. As good a goal line runner in the history of the ‘Horns. His 5,540 yards left him sixth on the game’s all-time rushing list and second at Texas only to Ricky Williams.  And as it turns, Ricky’s very equal away from the pads and helmets, whether dreadlocks or self-destruction.

Benson cut loose by the Bears, an organization cutting its losses before the next brush with the law. Sad Ced’s next move with his attorney and a bail bondsman no doubt on speed dial.

Strahan simply awaits the call to the Hall.