Cedric Benson Turns Himself in to Begin Sentence, Will Not Wait Until Bye Week

Cedric Benson is going to jail.  Until Tuesday night, there was just some question as to when.  Blogs were buzzing all day Tuesday with information that Benson had agreed to serve a 20-day sentence and would do so during the Bengals’ bye week later this season.  In a rapid change of events, Benson turned himself in Tuesday night at the Travis County Jail at around 11 p.m.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, good behavior would allow Benson to serve only seven days for the assault incident that occurred back in 2010.  If all goes to plan, Benson would be released by Sept. 6 at the latest and would be back with the Bengals in time to preapre for their Sept. 11 season opener at Cleveland.

Now that he has to serve actual jail time, it will be fun to see if Benson can somehow manage to keep himself out of trouble.  We know it is never his fault — as his July 2011 case has been dismissed — but the Bengals running back always finds his name in news headlines for the wrong reasons.  Will a minimum of seven days in the slammer be enough to straighten Cedric out?  Stay tuned for the next season of Hard Knocks: the Life of Cedric Benson.