[CBFF] ESPN - Benson expects bigger things in second season

[NEWS ARTICLE]

Thursday, June 1, 2006
Updated: June 2, 8:34 AM ET
Benson expects bigger things in second season
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

On Nov. 28, 2003, in a victory over archrival Texas
A&M, Texas tailback Cedric Benson rushed for 283
yards. Nearly two full years later, as the first-round
selection of the Chicago Bears in the 2005 draft,
Benson rang up 79 yards against the New Orleans
Saints, a relatively modest outing but still the best
performance of his rookie NFL season.

There's a lot of wiggle room between 79 yards and 283
yards and, as Benson prepares for his second NFL
campaign, Bears officials hope he finds some of it. 

Chicago coaches don't expect Benson, the fourth
overall choice in the '05 lottery, to run for 283
yards in a game. Maybe ever. Heck, the franchise
record, held by late Hall of Fame tailback Walter
Payton, is 275 yards. At the same time, the Bears
expect more than the 272 yards on 67 carries Benson
registered as a rookie last season.

A lot more.

Not surprisingly, so does Benson, who finished his
career at Texas having rushed for more than 1,000
yards in all four seasons and as the sixth-leading
runner in Division I history.

"No more excuses," Benson said last week. "Time to
produce. Time to be the player that I know I can be
this time around. I know I can play in this league, so
now I have to go out and show people."

In that regard, Benson, the second of the three
celebrated tailbacks chosen in the top five picks in
the 2005 draft, but by far the least productive in his
debut season, has plenty of company among his fellow
first-round selections. The collectively good news for
the first-rounders from the Class of 2005 is that not
many of them need to fret very much about the dread
"sophomore jinx." The bad news is that so many of them
were freshman flops and contributed little to their
respective teams' fortunes.

As a group, the 32 first-round selections averaged
13.1 appearances but just 7.8 starts. Only 11 of the
first-round picks played in all 16 games, and just
three -- linebackers Derrick Johnson of Kansas City
and DeMarcus Ware of Dallas, along with New England
guard Logan Mankins -- started in every game. Less
than half the first-round class, 14 players, logged
double-digit starts. Nine players started three or
fewer games. Three of them recorded no starts, and
Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, the
latter of the team's two selections in the opening
stanza, never left the sideline for a single snap.

The first round included a Merriman (Shawne, San Diego
linebacker and defensive rookie of the year), but not
much merriment. There was a Cadillac (Tampa Bay
tailback and offensive rookie of the year Carnell
Williams), but few smooth rides for the first-round
rookies. In a league that expects immediate
gratification, the 2005 first-rounders now are being
counted on to produce a delayed reaction of sorts, and
to make a favorable second impression, at least.

There were some rookies who had immediate breakout
seasons -- Merriman, Williams, Miami tailback Ronnie
Brown, Mankins, New Orleans tackle Jammal Brown,
Pittsburgh tight end Heath Miller and San Diego
defensive end Luis Castillo, among them -- but for the
most part, the first round went bust. Another top pick
who flashed great potential was Cleveland wide
receiver Braylon Edwards, but his season was truncated
by a knee injury that might keep him off the field
until October.

"A lot of us have a lot of making up to do," allowed
Thomas Davis of Carolina, who will move from safety to
linebacker for 2006 after starting the 2005 opener at
the former position, then being benched.

The guess is that many of the second-year
first-rounders, with Benson perhaps foremost among
them, will get plenty of opportunities this season to
make amends.

With Benson having missed all of training camp because
of a contract impasse, his rookie season got off to a
rocky start and he never really recovered. Mired
behind starter Thomas Jones and backup Adrian Peterson
on the Bears' depth chart, he played in only nine
games, started just one and logged fewer than 70
rushes. Just when it appeared Benson was gaining some
momentum, with the performance against New Orleans
followed by a 50-yard outing against San Francisco, he
suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his
right knee and was sidelined for the final six games
of the year.

"It wasn't a wasted season," Benson said, "but I've
got to build on the little bit of success I had last
year."

The construction job has moved forward nicely this
spring, with Benson diligent in his workouts and in
his conditioning, and there is considerable reason to
expect he will justify his lofty draft status. Jones
has been absent from many of the Bears' recent
workouts, including their organized team activities
sessions, was the subject of offseason trade rumors
and is said to want his contract enhanced. So some
uncertainty surrounds the Chicago starter, a work
horse who rushed for a career-best 1,335 yards in
2005.

"No more excuses. Time to produce. Time to be the
player that I know I can be this time around. I know I
can play in this league, so now I have to go out and
show people."
Cedric Benson, Bears running back

But even if Jones reports to camp on time, Benson is
going to have his playing time increased in 2006 and
is going to get carries. Not even the return to health
of quarterback Rex Grossman, who missed all but two
regular-season games in 2005 with a broken ankle, an
injury that forced rookie Kyle Orton into the lineup,
will keep the Bears from running the ball.

Chicago ran on 52.1 percent of its 937 offensive snaps
in 2005, the highest quota in the NFC and the third
highest in the league. The Bears might not reach that
same level with Grossman back in the lineup but still
will be a run-first offense. And, barring some
unforeseen circumstance, Benson will play an expanded
role in the Chicago attack.

He won't be the only first-round choice from 2005 who
suffered a disappointing first season but will be
relied on to make a quantum leap in '06. There's an
old adage that every player, no matter his status,
makes his biggest advance from a learning standpoint
between his first and second seasons.

Nearly half the league's franchises are banking on
that axiom to hold true.

The departure of Nate Burleson from Minnesota in free
agency, just a year after the Vikings traded away
Randy Moss, means the learning curve for wide receiver
Troy Williamson, the seventh overall choice in 2005,
has to be accelerated. Despite the presence of
veterans Travis Taylor, Marcus Robinson and Koren
Robinson, first-year coach Brad Childress needs
Williamson to improve on a rookie performance in which
he had just 24 receptions. Likewise, the retirement of
Jimmy Smith in Jacksonville means Matt Jones has to
grow into a presence at wide receiver.

Arizona cornerback Antrel Rolle was limited by knee
surgery to just five games in '05 and, despite
starting 13 contests as a rookie, Tennessee
counterpart Pacman Jones was stunted by immaturity.
Rolle recently underwent an arthroscopic procedure to
clean out some debris from his knee, and he should be
recovered by the start of training camp. There are few
indications, though, that Jones, who spent much of the
spring practicing away from his Titans teammates, is
ready to move forward.

In a munchkin-sized Indianapolis secondary, cornerback
Marlin Jackson is a giant, and the Colts expect him to
begin playing like one. St. Louis wants to run more
under first-year coach Scott Linehan, and that means
right tackle Alex Barron has to start knocking
defenders off the line of scrimmage. With San
Francisco's acquisition of Trent Dilfer, Alex Smith
will have the tutelage of a veteran quarterback, and
the 49ers are banking on that to improve the
performance of the 2005 draft's first overall pick.
Cincinnati coaches are looking to linebacker David
Pollack, who is recovering from a foot injury suffered
during an offseason basketball game, to help upgrade a
No. 28-ranked defense.

Indeed, one of the overriding themes of training camps
this summer will be the focus on how well the 2005
first-round choices might perform in their second
season in the league.

"That first-round [status] carries a price tag, and a
lot of us, for whatever reason, maybe didn't live up
to it," Pollack acknowledged. "What's that whole deal
about how you don't get a second chance to make a good
first impression? Well, we're getting a second chance,
and have to make the most of it." 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com