We’ve been counting down the days to the start of the New Orleans Saints’ 2024 regular season by profiling each player on the roster in the corresponding jersey number, but there isn’t anyone currently wearing No. 65. So instead, we’re shifting gears to cast a light on one of the players who wore it best: LeCharles Bentley.
Bentley, the team’s second-round pick in the 2002 NFL draft (out of, where else, but Ohio State) , started 14 games at guard in his rookie year and was named a Pro Bowler in 2003. He moved back to his college position, center, in 2004 and was again voted into the Pro Bowl the following season. But he left to sign with the Cleveland Browns as a free agent in 2006 and suffered a career-ending knee injury that summer. Multiple surgeries and a close call with a serious infection kept him from ever playing a snap in Cleveland.
These days Bentley works with the NFL as its senior advisor of player performance and development, an opportunity he earned after founding the L. Bentley O-Line Academy in Ohio. It’s one of the few training facilities specializing in working with offensive linemen, and the resources Bentley has made available have helped send some impressive players to the pros.
Bentley also founded AMDG Sports, an agency focused solely on representing offensive linemen (including current Saints players Shane Lemieux and Justin Herron). He may not have enjoyed a long-running career himself as a player, but Bentley has done a lot to ensure he’ll be proud of his legacy in pro football.
