Horatio Benedict "Bennie" Blades Sr. (born September 3, 1966) is an American former football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes.
 Blades in September 2015 | |||||||||||||||||
| No. 36 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Safety | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
| Born: | September 3, 1966 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 221 lb (100 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| High school: | Piper (Sunrise, Florida) | ||||||||||||||||
| College: | Miami (FL) (1984–1987) | ||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1988 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||||||||
College career
editBlades played a big part in the University of Miami's winning the 1987 NCAA National Championship. He also won the Jim Thorpe Award in that year and, in 2006, was named to the College Football Hall of Fame for his play with the Miami Hurricanes. He shares the University of Miami single season interception record with fellow Miami Hurricane Sean Taylor.
During his play at the University of Miami, he and the defensive secondary were nicknamed "Bennie and the Jets," a reference to the song by Elton John, for their speed, power, ability, and stand-out defensive play. Blades also was known for taunting and intimidating opposing players.
Blades was interviewed about his time at the University of Miami for the documentary The U, which premiered December 12, 2009 on ESPN.
Professional career
edit| Height | Weight | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 0+5⁄8 in (1.84 m) | 216 lb (98 kg) | 8+3⁄4 in (0.22 m) | 4.53 s | 1.64 s | 2.70 s | 4.18 s | 33.0 in (0.84 m) | 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m) | 15 reps | |||
| All values from NFL Combine[1] | ||||||||||||
Following his graduation from the University of Miami, Blades entered the 1988 NFL Draft and was drafted in the first round with the third overall pick.[2] He spent ten seasons in the NFL. He played for the Detroit Lions from 1988 to 1996 and the 1997 season with the Seattle Seahawks, teaming up with his older brother, wide receiver Brian Blades, who also played collegiate football at the University of Miami.
During his time with the Lions, Blades was considered one of the most physical defensive backs in the NFL, even playing as a linebacker in certain passing situations toward the end of his career. Blades is widely considered to be one of the greatest defensive backs in Lions' history.
The Lions selected Blades with the third overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft, and he went on to earn NFL All-Rookie honors for the 1988 season. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1991 - in addition to receiving First-team All-NFL and First-team All-NFC honors. He was the Lions’ Defensive MVP in 1992 and led the team with 78 tackles in 1996.[3] He had two 100-tackle seasons in is first two seasons in Detroit.
An underrated professional player, Blades was a key component to the Lions’ defense that helped the team claim two NFC Central titles, and a berth in the 1991 NFC Championship game. He was a defensive captain for five years in Detroit and his 815 career tackles place him second on the Lions’ all-time list.
| Interception Stats | Defense Stats | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Games | INTs | Yards | TD | FF | FR | Yards | TD | Sacks | Tackles | Safety |
| 1988 | Detroit Lions | 15 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 22 | 0 | 1.0 | 102 | 0 |
| 1989 | Detroit Lions | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 100 | 0 |
| 1990 | Detroit Lions | 12 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 83 | 0 |
| 1991 | Detroit Lions | 16 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 0 | 0.0 | 93 | 0 |
| 1992 | Detroit Lions | 16 | 3 | 56 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 95 | 0 |
| 1993 | Detroit Lions | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 23 | 0 |
| 1994 | Detroit Lions | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 71 | 0 |
| 1995 | Detroit Lions | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 69 | 1 |
| 1996 | Detroit Lions | 15 | 2 | 112 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 78 | 0 |
| 1997 | Seattle Seahawks | 10 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 58 | 0 |
| Totals | 136 | 14 | 230 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 43 | 0 | 5.0 | 772 | 1 | |
- Career statistics and player information from Pro Football Reference
Personal life
editBlades' has a blended family of eight children, including three boys: Horatio (H.B.), Jaylen and Tylan, and five girls: Elice, Ashley, Amber, Bianca and Alyssa.
On September 25, 2015, Blades was inducted into GridIron Greats.[4]
Notes and references
edit- ^ Co-winner with Rickey Dixon
- ^ "Bennie Blades, Combine Results, SS - Miami (FL)". nflcombineresults.com. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
- ^ "1988 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
- ^ "1996 Detroit Lions Statistics & Players | Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
edit- Bennie Blades on X
- "Bennie Blades: The Interview", The Miamist, May 31, 2006.
