Return to Glory

Cornelius Bennett thought he hit rock bottom in his first season with the Atlanta Falcons. It turned out he was merely on his way to an even darker place.

A guilty plea to sexual misconduct. A 35-day stint in a New York jail. A sterling reputation gone.

“I used to say I was one of the best ones out there for having fun,” Bennett says of his former escapades away from the field. “Or the way some people look at it, I was one of the worst ones. . . . There was no drugs involved or anything like that. I just liked to have fun.”

Before going to jail, the linebacker realized he had to change his life. He entered counseling, became a born-again Christian and served his sentence with the help of a Bible.

“When you become a Christian, you should have love for everyone just like you love yourself,” Bennett says. “That’s where I am. I don’t have to worry about the outside things I was doing before, so I have more energy to direct toward loving others and myself.”

That newfound energy also has been used to revitalize a career that seemed over after a dismal 1996 season with Atlanta. At age 33, he may be the best all-around defensive player for the surprising Falcons (10-2), who already have clinched a playoff spot.

Not only does Bennett lead the team with 88 tackles, he is a major component in Atlanta’s pass coverage. A step or two slower than in the days when he led the Buffalo Bills’ defense, he still can keep up with running backs coming out of the backfield or even speedy receivers that lurk near the line of scrimmage.

“The first year I started dropping into coverage, I may have been the worst man-to-man coverage linebacker in the league,” Bennett says. “Now, I feel I’m the best. I can line up in the slot and cover a receiver for 10 yards if I have to.”

Shortly after Dan Reeves was hired as Atlanta’s coach in 1997, he called in Bennett to view some film of the previous year. When the lights came back on, Reeves wanted to know whatever became of the fierce linebacker who had terrorized quarterbacks the previous nine years.

“He was not the same Cornelius Bennett I had played against when he was in Buffalo,” Reeves says. “I told him he didn’t want to be remembered for the way he was playing then. He wanted to be remembered as the great player he was in Buffalo.”

Bennett needed to hear those words. Appreciative of Reeves for caring enough to criticize, Bennett rededicated himself to football and once again resembled the All-Pro linebacker who played in four Super Bowls for the Bills.

But a dark secret was lurking off the field.

Supposedly one of the NFL’s most upstanding players, Bennett wound up in court after a May 1997 sexual encounter in a Buffalo hotel room. The woman was treated for trauma and skin cuts, and Bennett, who is married, was charged with sexual misconduct.

Bennett pleaded guilty and served time in jail. According to those around him, he emerged with a different outlook on life.

“I’m quite sure he’s very thankful for the opportunity he has after going through some of the things he did during the offseason,” said linebacker Jessie Tuggle, who lines up next to Bennett. “He seems to be a different person. He came in here with a great attitude and works hard. To me, it’s like he’s having fun again.”

Bennett knows there are people who are skeptical of his religious conversion. He’s trying to win them over with his actions.

“When I come to work, I’m upbeat,” he says. “I speak when guys pass by me, and I make sure they speak back. Those are things that ordinarily don’t mean anything to a lot of people. But they mean a lot to me now.”

Bennett won’t talk about the specifics of what happened in that hotel room 19 months ago, but he is forthright in his remembrances of that dismal first season with the Falcons.

After signing a four-year, $13.6 million contract in 1996, he looked lost in a new defensive system before his season ended three games early because of a quadriceps injury.

After the stability of Buffalo, Bennett was stunned by the chaos in Atlanta, which released quarterback Jeff George, suffered through a 3-13 season and wound up firing coach June Jones.

“There was no organization in this organization,” Bennett recalls. “It was just a terrible situation all around. ... Except for me signing that contract and picking up the checks on Monday, everything else about that year I would like to forget.”

Which brings us back to that first meeting he had with Reeves, who succeeded Jones and brought a major dose of stability to one of the league’s most unstable franchises.

“It was probably a challenge I needed in my career at that point in time. Maybe I had gotten content in what I had done in the past,” Bennett admits. “I appreciate him being coach enough to sit me down and tell me that.”

While his football career is winding down, Bennett’s personal growth is just beginning.

“I can’t say I don’t struggle with it,” he says. “It’s going to be a struggle the rest of my life to maintain my Christianity. But with other good Christians around me and support from family and friends, I hope to be a role model to people who want to change their lives.”