Bennett has been with the Bears since 2008.
BOURBONNAIS- If losing Kelvin Hayden for the season combined with the ongoing issues with Jonathan Scott and D.J. Williams weren’t bad enough, the Bears got more bad news on the injury front late Wednesday. After days of speculation and unofficial reports, the Bears officially announced that wide receiver Earl Bennett has indeed suffered a concussion.
No. 80 was not on the practice field at Olivet Nazarene at all this week and hasn’t been seen since being taken off of the field by Bears medical personal at Solider Field last weekend. It is believed that Bennett initially sustained the injury after taking a big upper body hit during drills last Friday. Jay Cutler’s college teammate apparently didn’t start feeling the effects until the next day, thus prompting his removal from the Family Night festivities.
While there is no formal cure for a concussion, one of the ways to treat such an injury is to keep the patient in a dark room and limit their exposure to light. This would explain why Bennett has basically been in seclusion for the last few days. Another method of treatment is to limit the patent’s exposure to loud noises. A football field is one of the louder places anyone can be. With players and coaches constantly yelling and screaming, combined with whistles and a vast media presence, the Bears don’t want anything to trigger anymore symptoms for their third best wide receiver.
The scary part in all of this is that Bennett has now had concussions in back-to-back seasons. He missed two games last year because of this type of injury. And with the NFL’s recent changes to policy regarding head injuries, Bennett will not be back on the field any time soon. He is officially out for Friday’s preseason opener in Carolina and the Bears medical staff will take their time and be patient with the 26-year-old.
With “Agent Orange” {his nickname} off the field for the foreseeable future, the Bears will have to look elsewhere for a third option for the time being. This could be the chance that guys like Joe Anderson and Devin Aromashodu can capitalize on for more playing time. Anderson worked his way up from the practice squad to the active roster last year. And considering that the Bears have 10 other pass catchers on the current roster, there is no guarantee that he will make the final 53-man list.
He will have to show that he is hungrier then he was in 2012 if he is to take Bennett’s spot. Aromashodu’s first stint in a Bears uniform didn’t go so well. Injuries and low performance numbers gave him a one way ticket out of Chicago during his previous tenure (2008-2010). When the Bears brought him back in May, he considered his re-signing a chance at redemption. With Bennett now on the shelf, redemption isn’t too far away for the man who began his career jumping from one practice squad to another.
Of course both of these players will need to look over their shoulders as Brittan Golden, Jerrell Jackson, Josh Lenz, Marcus Rucker, Terrence Tolliver, Eric Weems and Marquess Wilson now have extra incentive to advance their careers. They will all be licking their chops waiting for their chance if Anderson and Aromashodu fail to perform.
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