BenJarvus Green-Ellis on Leadership, Aaron Hernandez & Being a Bengal
By Jason Marcum
May 29, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis runs during organized team activities at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
Cincinnati Bengals running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis played two seasons in New England alongside Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who has gone from being one of the NFL’s best TEs, to now facing murder charges and unlikely to ever be a free man again. Ellis admitted it’s hard knowing one of his former teammates could be involved in such a terrible act, but he and the rest of the NFL have to move on from it:
"“We have to come out here and play ball. That’s the only thing we can do right now to help the situation,” he said. “Not only that but just to help the league. The best thing for the league right now is for every guy on all 32 teams to go out and perform at a high level and put all of the negative we have going on behind us in our rearview mirror.”BJGE is like everyone else and finds it unfathomable. And he knows Hernandez.“I think it was shocking to everyone. Anytime you know anybody, like if one of you guys were to do something, or be committed or acquitted or accused of something like that of course it’s going to be shocking,” he said. “But right now we just have to send out our prayers to both families and let the good Lord take care of that situation.“My heart goes out to both families and hopefully everything turns out the way everyone is OK with, but it’s a trying situation and it’s really sad the way it happened. It’s been a tough offseason for the league in general but we have to move past those things and try to get down to playing football.”"
While Ellis will be fighting for carries this year with Giovani Bernard coming in and being expected to become the #1 back eventually, he knows that his leadership will be key important for a young backfield:
"“Some things come natural like being the leader of (the backs) right now. I’m the most experienced guy and that’s where it is right now.”"
Ellis also provided the quote of the day when referring to what it was like going through roller-coaster of last season:
"The Law Firm sounding like the Council of Economic Advisers talking about how last year’s running game emerged at the end of the season: .”It was up-down, like the stock market. That’s what we were the first half of the season and then we kind of became like the Dow Jones like the old at the end of it.”"
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