Former Eagles DL Michael Bennett Announces Retirement

Former Eagles defensive lineman Michael Bennett announced his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday morning.

“Retiring feels a little like death of self, but I’m looking forward to rebirth – the opportunity to reimagine my purpose,” the 34-year-old South Texas native wrote on social media.

A three-time Pro Bowl selection with Seattle, Bennett spent only one season in Philadelphia but it turned out to be a very productive 2018 campaign.

He arrived at the NovaCare Complex as a 32-year-old accomplished veteran in the midst of the organization’s “new normal” mindset coming off a Super Bowl LII win.

Acquired, along with a seventh-round pick from the Seahawks, for receiver Marcus Johnson and a fifth-round selection, from a production standpoint Bennett may have not been a home run but he was certainly an extra-base hit in the gap.

Off the field, however, he was hardly a great fit for the Eagles and Bennett seemed to know his stay would be a short one, failing to unpack a giant suitcase he left in the middle of the locker room for the entire season.

Bennett never liked rotational systems and wanted to be on the field more and he was unhappy early in the season because lesser players were taking reps.

Ultimately, injuries elsewhere actually took care of that for Bennett and when it was all said and done he played all 16 regular-season games, starting 10 of them and compiling nine sacks, 30 QB hits, and two forced fumbles. In the two playoff games, he added another sack, three tackles for loss, and three more QB hits.

Despite that tangible success, Bennett was relatively expensive and Jim Schwartz wasn't about to guarantee playing time again so the Eagles dealt Bennett and a seventh-round pick to New England for a fifth-round pick before the 2019 season.

By October 15 of last season, the Pats suspended Bennett for conduct detrimental to the team. Bennett himself described it as “philosophical differences” with his position coach (he again didn’t like his playing time being scaled back for what he felt were lesser players) and apologized but the damage was done and New England traded him to Dallas for a 2021 conditional seventh-round pick (which became a sixth-rounder).

An extremely gifted player who could seamlessly move inside and outside with similar effectiveness Bennett bounced around to four teams over his final three seasons as an eclectic personality who marches to the beat of his own drummer.

"I would like to thank my wife and children, who have sacrificed so much for me to succeed," Bennett wrote. "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.'"

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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