Photo : Jason Miller ( Getty Images )

Former Bears, Bengals and Packers running back Cedric Benson died on Saturday in a motorcycle crash in Austin, Texas, according to multiple reports. He was 36.




KVUE reports that emergency services responded to calls about a motorcycle and car crash around 10:20 p.m in West Austin*. According to police, a minivan pulled out of a crossroad and hit the motorcycle as it was driving by. Both Benson and a woman in her 30s who was riding with him were declared dead at the scene.

News of Benson’s death began to trickle out through social media before it was officially confirmed when his brother, Dominic Benson, posted a grief-filled status on Facebook and said his brother was “gone” in the comments.


Also in the social media shuffle was a comment that Mack Brown, who coached Benson through all four of his years at Texas, on an Instagram post of a picture of the running back. Brown’s comment read, “We lost a great one way too soon. #RIP.” Perhaps the most harrowing post came fro m Benson himself, who posted on his Instagram story a photo of his motorcycle with the caption “My Saturday evening.”

Ryan Autullo and Tony Plohetski of HookEm.com report that a group of people were seen mourning outside of Benson’s home in West Austin.

Benson racked up four 1,000-yard seasons as a member of the Texas Longhorns football team. He earned the Doak Walker Award as the country’s top running back in 2004, and was a consensus All-American. In 2005, the Chicago Bears drafted Benson fourth overall by the Chicago Bears, and was on the 2006 squad that played the Colts in the Super Bowl. His career received a jumpstart when he joined the Bengals in 2008, rushing for 4,176 yards and 21 touchdowns in his four years there. Benson ended his career in 2012 with the Green Bay Packers.