Earl Bennett
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| No. -- Free agent | |||||||||
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| Position: | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | March 23, 1987 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Birmingham, Alabama | ||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 209 lb (95 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Birmingham (AL) West End | ||||||||
| College: | Vanderbilt | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 2008 / Round: 3 / Pick: 70 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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| Receptions: | 185 |
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| Receiving Yards: | 2,277 |
| Touchdowns: | 12 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Earl Bryan Bennett (born March 23, 1987) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Vanderbilt.
A three-time All-SEC selection at Vanderbilt, Bennett left school as the all-time SEC leader in receptions with 236. Although later surpassed by Jordan Matthews, Bennett still ranks near the top of Vanderbilt's career receiving leaderboards.
The Chicago Bears chose Bennett in the third round (70th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft. He didn't catch a single pass his entire rookie year and was mostly on the sidelines.
On April 2, 2009, Bennett's former teammate at Vanderbilt during the 2005 season, Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler was acquired by the Bears via a trade with the Denver Broncos. Bears head coach Lovie Smith said Bennett would be given "every opportunity" to win a spot as a starting receiver alongside Devin Hester in 2009. Bennett did just that during the course of mandatory mini-camp and training camp, as he showed an ability to make tough grabs in traffic and a willingness to go over the middle. Bennett and Cutler quickly regained the chemistry they shared on and off the field during their college years playing together at Vanderbilt. During that offseason, Bennett also changed his number from 85 to 80. (He tried to obtain his original college number 10, but since NFL rules prohibit players from changing numbers in the 80s to numbers in the 10s, he settled for 80 as it reminded him of Jerry Rice.)
Bennett was the only Bears receiver to catch at least 1 pass in each game played during the 16-Game regular season in which the Bears missed the playoffs. Bennett got off to a strong start in season in the Week 1 match-up against the Green Bay Packers, making seven catches for 66 yards. Two weeks later against the Seattle Seahawks, Bennett caught four passes for 80 yards. A week later against the Detroit Lions, Bennett returned four punts for a 15-yard average and a long of 25 yards in place of an injured Devin Hester. During Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons, Bennett caught four passes for 57 yards, including a clutch grab in the red zone in which Bennett took a big hit to still give Chicago a chance to win but eventually lost that game. In Week 9 against the Arizona Cardinals, Bennett caught seven passes for 93 yards, but the Bears lost 41–21. In Week 16 against the division rival Minnesota Vikings, Bennett caught three passes for 35 yards, along with his second career receiving touchdown.
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