Bené Benwikere

Bené Sylvion Benwikere ( ; born September 3, 1991) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL draft. He played college football for the San Jose State Spartans.

Early life Benwikere grew up in Los Angeles; his father immigrated to the United States from Nigeria. In his first year at Serra, he earned a starting cornerback spot. The Serra Cavaliers included future NFL players such as Marqise Lee, Robert Woods, Paul Richardson, and George Farmer. As a senior, Benwikere helped Serra win the 2009 California Interscholastic Federation Division 3 title.

A three-sport letterwinner, Benwikere also played basketball and was a sprinter (11.0s in the 100m) and jumper on the track team.

Benwikere attended football camp at UCLA during high school and had scholarship offers from San Jose State, Iowa State, New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV.

College career Benwikere committed to San Jose State on February 2, 2010. He was part of coach Mike MacIntyre's first recruiting class at San Jose State, and Benwikere played under MacIntyre from 2010 to 2012 and Ron Caragher in 2013.

As a true freshman in 2010, he played in all 13 games and made 9 starts. During his sophomore year, he played in ten games and made two starts. In 2012, Benwikere was named first-team All-Western Athletic Conference (WAC). He played in 13 games and started 8. Benwikere scored two defensive touchdowns off a 37-yard fumble recovery against New Mexico State and 47-yard interception return against Idaho.

In his senior season in 2013, Benwikere was named first-team All-Mountain West Conference (MWC), started 11 games, and had a streak of four consecutive games with an interception. In his San Jose State career, Benwikere had 214 tackles (including 11.5 for loss), 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumbles recovered (1 returned for touchdown), 14 interceptions (1 returned for touchdown), and 22 passes broken up.

Professional career

Carolina Panthers 2014 season The Carolina Panthers selected Benwikere in the fifth round (148th overall) of the 2014 NFL draft. The Panthers traded a fifth (168th overall) and seventh round pick (225th overall) to the Minnesota Vikings and received a fifth round pick (148th overall) in order to draft Benwikere. Carolina Panthers’ General Manager Dave Gettleman noted the Panthers’ had graded Benwikere as a fourth round pick.

As a rookie, during the preseason, Benwikere won the starting nickel corner position on the Panther defense over veteran Charles Godfrey. On his NFL debut on September 7, 2014, in Carolina's 20–14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Benwikere had 4 tackles, 1 pass deflection, and a recovery of a forced fumble by teammate Luke Kuechly on Tampa running back Bobby Rainey. Benwikere's fumble recovery enabled Carolina to run out the clock en route to their victory. Through the first two weeks of the season, Pro Football Focus (PFF) rated Benwikere as the second best cornerback in the NFL, allowing a completion percentage of only 44.4% of passes thrown in his area.

In the first half of the October 5 game against the Chicago Bears, Benwikere left the game in the first half after twisting his ankle. As of November 9, Benwikere has been inactive. Benwikere didn't allow a single touchdown in 254 snaps and 45 targets (best among rookie corners who played at least 25 percent of their team's snaps). On December 23, 2014, Benwikere was named to the Sports Illustrated 2014 All-Rookie Team. During the Panthers playoff victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Benwikere gave up only one reception for 21 yards for the game. On January 13, 2015, Benwikere was named to the PFF 2014 All-Rookie Team. He was also named to the All-Rookie teams for both ESPN and Sports Illustrated. For his rookie season, Benwikere allowed a rookie-low 72.9 opposing quarterback rating, no touchdowns, and was the third best in the NFL in the yards per reception allowed in 459 regular-season snaps.

2015 season With the Panthers acquisition of Charles Tillman during the offseason, Benwikere was named the Panthers starting nickelback to open the season. Through the first three weeks of the season, the only two cornerbacks who were targeted 20 or more times and had not allowed a pass for more than 16 yards were Benwikere and teammate, Josh Norman. During the Panthers 44–16 victory over the Washington Redskins, Benwikere recorded his first career strip-sack against quarterback Kirk Cousins and only allowed 14 receiving yards in his zone. On December 13, during a game against the Atlanta Falcons, Benwikere suffered a fractured leg, and was placed on season-ending injury reserve.

On February 7, 2016, Benwikere's Panthers played in Super Bowl 50. In the game, the Panthers fell to the Denver Broncos by a score of 24–10.

2016 season On October 7, Benwikere was released by Carolina after the Panthers defense allowed 300 receiving yards to Atlanta Falcons' wide receiver Julio Jones for only the sixth such occurrence in NFL history. Benwikere admitted having some "conditioning issues", allowing the Falcons' Jones to get a step on him.

Miami Dolphins Benwikere was claimed off waivers by the Miami Dolphins on October 10, 2016. He was released by the Dolphins on November 8, and was re-signed to the practice squad.

Green Bay Packers Benwikere was signed to the Green Bay Packers' practice squad on January 17, 2017.

Cincinnati Bengals On February 14, 2017, Benwikere was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Dallas Cowboys On September 2, 2017, the Dallas Cowboys traded a conditional 2019 sixth-round draft pick (#198-Tim Harris) to the Bengals in exchange for Benwikere. The Cowboys acquired him to provide depth while rookies Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis recovered from hamstring strains. He appeared in 12 games playing mainly on special teams, registering 2 tackles in only 10 defensive snaps.

Arizona Cardinals On March 23, 2018, Benwikere signed with the Arizona Cardinals, reuniting with head coach Steve Wilks who was his defensive backs coach with the Panthers. He played in 11 games, starting eight, before being released by the Cardinals on November 26.

Oakland Raiders On December 5, 2018, Benwikere was signed by the Oakland Raiders.

Minnesota Vikings On August 3, 2019, Benwikere was signed by the Minnesota Vikings. He was released on August 27.

NFL career statistics +Regular season statistics Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck PD Int Yds Avg Lng TD FF FR 2014 CAR 10 6 33 24 9 0.0 7 1 0 0.0 0 0 1 0 2015 CAR 13 4 59 44 15 1.0 9 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 0 2016 CAR 4 4 10 8 2 0.0 4 1 1 1.0 1 0 0 0 2017 DAL 12 0 2 2 0 0.0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 12018 ARI 11 8 12 0 12 0.5 4 1 21 21 21 0 1 0 OAK 4 0 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 54 22 158 119 39 1.5 25 3 22 20.0 21 0 3 1Source: NFL.com

+Postseason statistics Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck PD Int Yds Avg Lng TD FF FR 2014 CAR 2 2 2 2 0 0.0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 Total 2 2 2 2 0 0.0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0Source: pro-football-reference.com

Personal life His uncle, William Lackey, played in the Arena Football League. Benwikere's cousin Chris Owens also played cornerback in the NFL.