Substance over style worked wonders for Edgar Bennett

• Inducted: 2005
• Running Back: 1992-96
• Height: 6-0; Weight: 223
• College: Florida State, 1987, ’89-91

Edgar Bennett was made for the Green Bay Packers, the once natural grass of Lambeau Field and coach Mike Holmgren’s offense. It was the one place in the National Football League where Bennett could thrive as more a packhorse than a thoroughbred and as a back who was far more dependable than flashy.

To put it simply, Bennett relied more on his balance, brains and heart than any showstopping physical skills. But his modest talents were of immeasurable worth when Pro Football Hall of Fame general manager Ron Wolf resurrected the Packers in the 1990s. “In key situations, he performs,” was how Wolf summed up Bennett’s value. “When Brett Favre turns to hand the ball to 34, 34’s always there.”

Or as Harry Sydney, Packers running backs coach from 1995-99, more graphically put it after Bennett’s third season: “You’ve got a lot of Porsches out there that are fine until the weather gets bad and they’re slipping and sliding. You get a 4-by-4 like Edgar, they go in rain, hail, sleet or snow.”

Selected in the fourth round of the 1992 NFL Draft, Bennett played fullback his first three years, then running back his last two. As a fullback, he was a threat as a runner and receiver, not just a blocker, and the Packers took full advantage of it. In his two years as the starting fullback, he finished second in rushing in 1993 with 550 yards and led the team the next year with 623 yards, although that season he also was used in one-back formations. As a receiver, Bennett finished second in receptions to Sterling Sharpe both years, combining for 137 catches. However, at 222 pounds, Bennett had limitations as a lead blocker taking on bigger linebackers and that was becoming the main trait teams were looking for in a fullback.

“He’s not a halfback or an I-fullback,” running backs coach Gil Haskell said before the 1994 season. “But Edgar’s for real in this system. You trade him some place and they’d…