Former Minnesota Vikings running back and first-round draft pick, Michael Bennett, recently discussed the struggles he’s dealt with throughout his entire life.
As soon as he entered the NFL, the expectations were very high for Michael Bennett. After longtime running back Robert Smith abruptly retired after the 2000 season, the Minnesota Vikings selected Bennett in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft to be their new starter in the backfield.
Bennett was coming off his junior year at Wisconsin that saw him rush for 1,681 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Vikings clearly felt his performance was good enough to draft him in the first round.
After an up-and-down rookie season with Minnesota in 2001, Bennett ended up earning a trip to the Pro Bowl during his second year with the team after rushing for 1,296 yards, catching 37 passes for 351 yards, and scoring six touchdowns.
Unfortunately, this would end up really being the running back’s only productive campaign for the rest of his career in the NFL. Bennett remained with the Vikings for another three years before going on to spend time with the Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Diego Chargers, and Oakland Raiders from 2006 to 2010.
Like a lot of players who end up in the NFL, the former Minnesota running back began playing football at a very young age. This was something he did for over 25 years and when he was with the Raiders in 2010, the reality of it coming to an end didn’t sit well with him.
During a recent interview with the Twist podcast, Bennett revealed he almost ended his own life after realizing his career in football was nearing the finish line
"“I can remember times going into the Raiders parking lot and just sitting there like, ‘why the hell am I not in there? What’s wrong with me?’ You just start asking yourself all these questions and you just go into a mental dark spiral. I know that’s what happened to me. I was sitting in the parking lot at one time with a gun to my head because I can’t play football. It was hard.”"
Sadly, this is the outcome for a number of former football players who have spent the majority of their life playing the sport.
Since his last snap in the NFL in 2010, Bennett has actually spent some time behind bars. In 2012, he was convicted of wire fraud. Then in 2015, he was arrested for taking out a $225,000 loan after stealing information from his girlfriend’s parents.
In 2017, he plead guilty to burglary, identity theft, and attempted theft from an elder adult in an amount exceeding $100,000. All of these charges resulted in a five-year prison sentence.
Bennett came close to ending it all in 2010. But luckily that didn’t happen and at 41-years-old now, he still has a chance to turn his life around and help others learn from the mistakes he made.