Former Seahawks DE Michael Bennett retires

Former Seattle Seahawks  DE  Michael  Bennett announced his retirement from the NFL after 11 years in the NFL through  his Instagram account,  Bennett  spent most of his playing career primarily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and  the Seahawks

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Retiring feels a little like death of self, but I’m looking forward to the rebirth – the opportunity to reimagine my purpose. ⠀ I would like to thank my wife and children, who have sacrificed so much for me to succeed. I’m looking forward to supporting them the same way they have me these past 11 years. I have never been more at peace in my life. ⠀ As the great Toni Morrison said: “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.“

A post shared by Michael Bennett (@mosesbread72) on Jul 21, 2020 at 3:37am PDT

  Bennet  was among the first  NFL athletes to  speak  against  Race and Social Justice as well as  Police brutality. A group of players began protesting during the playing of the national anthem after a  white nationalist rally Charlottesville, VA in 2017. While most players knelt or raised a fist during  the playing of the anthem, Bennett drew attention because he chose to  sit on the bunch.

For the three time  Pro Bowler and  Super Bowl XLVIII winner sports was  just part of the man he was. The former Texas A&M product entered the league in 2009 as undrafted free agent by the Seahawks. After seeing no regular season game action Bennett moved  on to Tampa Bay where he played   four  seasons. Bennet returned to Seattle and saw plenty of playing time the second time around.  In his five seasons with Seattle  ( 2013-2017) Bennett was  selected to the Pro Bowl in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

In  August 2017 Bennett was involved with an altercation with the Las Vegas Police Department.  According to Bennett two officers  handcuffed him and pointed a gun at him while they were investigation reports of gun fire. The Las Vegas Police Department denied the  charges. For  Bennett the incident was another example of excessive use of force by the Police.

Bennett was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles  in 2018 . In  2019  his last in the NFL  Bennett played for the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. For Bennett the struggle for Race and Social  Justice started during his collegiate days at Texas A & M.

“We had white coaches, and they wanted the Black players to be the embodiment of who they were. They would tell us to wear our pants and shoes a certain way; this is what it meant to ‘be a man, “  was quoted in the New York Times.

In 2018 Bennett released a book he co-wrote “ Things That Make White People Uncomfortable to express his views. The legacy Bennett left and is now commonplace is that athletes are human beings with family and real world fears.