From Postgame Door Dashing To Make Ends Meet to Bengals Draft Pick, Demetrius Knight Already Is a Success Story

CINCINNATI – Whether second-round linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. can help transform the Cincinnati Bengals defense remains to be seen in the months and years to come.

Whether he can change your opinion of NIL and the college landscape may only take minutes.

Meeting with the reporters in the Bengals locker room after landing in Cincinnati on Saturday, Knight told the story behind his transfer from Charlotte to South Carolina ahead of the 2024 season.

He wasn’t chasing millions.

He was escaping worry, doubt and hunger.

“My wife and I had our first baby in Charlotte,” Knight said. “She was only a couple months old, and we were not making very much at Charlotte, being a smaller school.”

Every dollar of his NIL deal was going toward their rent, so Knight started delivering food for Door Dash to earn money for baby formula and enough weekend food for he and his wife to eat when he was away from the team facility.

There's no easy, quick ways to make money when you're playing football,” he said.

But after playing football – immediately after in one case, there was Door Dash.

On one Saturday in October 2022, Knight came home after recording a team-high seven tackles in a game against Navy, made sure his daughter, Kamila, was tucked in for the night and climbed into his Jeep Compass to start delivering food to other people so he and his wife, Jensy, could have some themselves.

“I asked my wife how much was in the account, and it wasn’t enough to get us something to eat, so I had to go out in the Jeep Compass and make some deliveries,” he said. “I had to do what had to be done.”

The same can be said of his decision to transfer to South Carolina at the end of the season.

Yes, he was flashing NFL talent and dominating in the American Athletic Conference, so transferring to the SEC was a logical step.

But it was as much of a family decision as it was a football one.

“We didn't get the crazy deals that a couple of my college teammates are getting now,” Knight said. “We just got enough where we weren't struggling anymore. I told them 'In order for me to come to Carolina, I just want something where when we pay our bills, we've got something left where we can go get groceries if we need it.'

“I said, 'As long as we are not Door Dashing, I can come here.'"

Knight’s aunt told him not to look at social media because there would be people accusing him of leaving to chase money.

“For some of us in the portal and people like me that are at smaller schools, that's what life is like, where we're struggling to make ends meet,” Knight said. “So when we get an opportunity to hop in the portal after having a great season to go somewhere to help better our lives or, in my case, help my family, it's a decision that has to be made.

“Some of them are bad,” he added. “Some of those kids are coming out of high school wanting immediate money for doing nothing. But that's another can of worms I'll let the NCAA handle.”

While at South Carolina, the family welcomed a son, Malachi.

And Knight’s rise from pinching pennies to hearing his name called in the second round of the draft is why Knight got so emotional Friday night when the Bengals told him they were drafting him.

The South Carolina X account posted photos showing the emotions spilling out of Knight.

Incredible 🤙@Bengals | #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/w3joSqviEK
— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) April 26, 2025

“I knew I was going to be emotional once I got the call, but I didn't think I'd be that emotional and that tied into it,” Knight said. “I wish I had acknowledged my wife a little bit more, but I was in the moment. Everything was flooding my brain, especially being at Charlotte and thinking back to how we were Door Dashing after games, after losses we would take, and I'm out there making sure we've got food for the weekend.

“My son was crying, and I was also crying because I'll be able to take care of him and also my daughter and wife.”

Last year’s No. 49 pick in the draft, Bengals defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, signed a four-year, $7.8 million contract.

Knights' eyes were welling again Saturday afternoon just recounting the moment.

In addition to majoring in football, Knight earned a degree in literature, media and communication.

“I'm going to use that degree to be a producer one day,” he said. “I like to screen write in my free time. I have a couple of working scripts, so when I get there, I've got a plan in place. I'm big on preparation, so when football is done after a long career, I plan on putting those things in motion.”

He didn’t say what the scripts were about, but if one of them is autobiographical, it will be a hell of a story.