Michael Bennett against the Eagles in 2014. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

All those great awards and accolades we heard last week about Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Bennett are now in question after Friday March 23, 2018, just a few weeks after being traded to the Eagles, Bennett was indicted on a felony charge of causing injury to the elderly for an incident that took place at Super Bowl LI in February 2017.

Various media reports indicate that, according to the indictment, Bennett allegedly injured a a 66-year-old paraplegic who was working security at NRG Stadium.

Bennett was at the game to watch his brother, Martellus, who was playing tight end for New England.
After the Patriots beat the Falcons in overtime, Michael Bennett was trying to get out on to the field when the incident happened.

According to the indictment, Michael was trying to shove his way on to the field when security personnel informed him that he would have to take another entrance.

Michael apparently didn’t listen to their request and he decided to push through security at the field entrance he wasn’t supposed to be using.

During the pushing, a 66-year-old disabled female was injured. The punishment for the charge carries up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

At first, the Eagles issued a statement on Michael Bennett and the incident:

“We are aware of the situation involving Michael Bennett and are in the process of gathering more information. Because this is an ongoing legal matter, we will have no further comment at this time.”

At this week’s Owners meeting in Orlando, Florida, Eagles Executive Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie were asked many questions about Bennett and if they were aware of his legal problems in advance.

In a hallway gathering with mostly Philadelphia reporters, Roseman talked about what he could, including the Eagles vetting process for a player they want to sign.

“When we bring a player into Philadelphia we do a lot of background on that player,” Roseman said. “We fee like we have the best security director in the league. We’ve talked about (Vice President of Team Security) Dom DiSandro a lot. We also speak to our players, we speak to people who were with this person, we do a lot of background on people. So for us ‘fit’ is very important because ‘fit’ is obviously a big reason we won last year. We are not doing anything where we’re doing it nonchalant. In terms of information, we’re continuing to gather information as we get it. I think that more information will continue to come. Obviously there was a change in his representation in the last 48 hours. I don’t want to talk about an ongoing legal matter. I wanted to give you some background on where we were and our process when we bring people in.”

Roseman was asked if the Eagles knew about the indictment when they traded for Bennett. “I would say we did not know about it before Friday.”

Roseman was also asked if it is common for NFL general managers to disclose baggage a player may have when trying to trade him.

“I want to make this clear, there is not a person I would trust more than (General Manager) John Schneider and the Seahawks,” Roseman said. “There is nothing we feel they did wrong or if there is any blame in this matter. It’s a unique circumstance and we’ll deal with it.”