Benson began to emerge as a football stand-out in the eighth grade while attending Abell Junior High School in Midland, Texas.

He rushed for over 3,500 yards (51 touchdowns) during his junior year, when his team went undefeated and won state and national championships.

As a senior in 2004, he won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back and was recognized as a first-team All-American.

[9] The Bears wished to make Benson their feature running back, but his lengthy contract impasse had caused him to miss the team's entire training camp.

[11] Benson claimed that he received a cold reception upon his return because he bragged that he would become the starter by the Bears' third game despite the holdout and lack of practice.

[11] Jones' performance impressed the Bears' coaching staff and earned him the top spot on the team's depth chart for the next two seasons.

Benson occasionally received playing time, and he rushed for 80 yards on 16 carries against the New Orleans Saints in his best game.

[14] After 2005, the Bears considered making Benson the team's starting running back after Jones was unhappy with his contract status.

The team's plans went astray when Benson injured his shoulder after colliding with Brian Urlacher during a routine scrimmage.

Although Benson fully recovered from his injury, head coach Lovie Smith selected Jones as the Bears' starter.

Days later, Benson challenged Smith's coaching by remarking that "the NFL is not like high school or college, but the best players don't always get on the field.

In the 2006 NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints, Benson scored a fourth-quarter touchdown and totaled 60 yards.

Smith named Benson as the Bears' starting running back after the team traded Jones to the New York Jets.

[21] Shortly after the grand jury failed to indict him on both incidents in Austin, Benson signed a one-year, $520,000 contract with the Cincinnati Bengals on September 30, 2008.

The Bengals picked up their first victory of the season in a 21–19 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, with Benson carrying 24 times for 104 yards and a touchdown.

A free agent after the 2008 season, Benson visited with the Houston Texans before signing a two-year, $7-million contract with the Bengals on March 3, 2009.

Coach Marvin Lewis later recounted how he explained the decision to Benson: "'Ced, it's not that I didn't think you could do that on the football field, it was the other [stuff] that I got tired of.

[27] Benson's cousin Aaron played linebacker for the University of Texas from 2010 to 2013, but abandoned the sport in his redshirt senior year.

[32] On May 3, 2008, the incident occurred near Austin, Texas by the Lower Colorado River Authority during a late-night safety inspection.

[33] Benson later refuted the charges against him and stated that he had requested to take a follow-up field sobriety test on land after failing the initial one.

[35] Upon hearing about the incident, Bears head coach Lovie Smith stated, "I haven't had a chance to speak with Cedric yet, but anytime we're talking about one of our players getting arrested, you're disappointed in it" and added "What we're going to do from here, I'll go back and try to get as much information as I possibly can and go from there.

While returning from a restaurant with his girlfriend, police claimed that Benson drove through a red light and failed a field sobriety test.

Angelo commented on the release, stating "Cedric displayed a pattern of behavior we will not tolerate... As I said this past weekend, you have to protect your job.

[44] On July 17, 2011, Benson was arrested in Austin for a misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury to a family member.

[48] According to court documents, Benson refused to submit to a field sobriety test and could not recite the alphabet from G to Z nor count past the number 3.

On August 17, 2019, Benson and female passenger Aamna Najam were killed when his motorcycle collided with a minivan on RM 2222 in Austin, Texas.

[49] On the second anniversary of Benson's death, his family and the Austin school district launched a mentorship program in his honor at Gus Garcia Young Men's Leadership Academy.