With one unresolved legal issue possibly affecting his value on the free-agent market, Bengals running back Cedric Benson has a new one with which to contend.
Benson has been arrested and jailed in Travis County, Texas. He’s charged with assault causing bodily injury to a family member.
The arrest, first reported within the hour by Ricky Doyle of Your News Now, occurred early Sunday. According to records available online, Benson was booked at 6:42 a.m. local time.
Benson, who was cut by the Bears in June 2008 after completing two thirds of the boating-driving-flying-while-intoxicated Trifecta (allegedly), resurrected his career in Cincinnati during the 2008 season. He rushed for 1,111 yards in 2010 and 1,251 in 2009.
The arrest, if the Bengals are willing to overlook it, makes his return to Cincinnati even more likely, given that there won’t be much of an alternative market for his services.
Meanwhile, Marvin White can take some consolation in the fact that he’s not the most recent member of the team to be arrested. And now Pacman’s arrest from only a week ago suddenly seems like a faded memory.
All (or at least most) kidding aside, three Bengals have been arrested in a week. Three. We realize that owner Mike Brown has a higher tolerance for problem children given that he can get them on the cheap, but at some point he needs to re-evaluate this policy.
In fairness to the Bengals, the organization had been doing a good job lately of keeping guys on the right path, before the lockout prevented the team from interacting with the players in any way. For this franchise in particular, the lockout can’t end quickly enough.