Theo Benedet (born October 12, 2001) is a Canadian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

offensive tackle for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played U Sports football for the UBC Thunderbirds.

Early life

Benedet was born in Toronto, Ontario and grew up in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia. He attended Handsworth Secondary School. He grew up a fan of the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

but did not compete at football seriously until he was in 10th grade at Handsworth. He committed to play U Sports football for the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

(UBC) Thunderbirds.

University career

Benedet immediately became a starter on the offensive line for UBC as a first year in 2019. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He appeared in seven games during the 2021 season. In 2022, he was named first-team All-Canadian and was the winner of the J. P. Metras Trophy for best lineman nationally, helping the team have one of the best U Sports rushing offences along with reaching their first Hardy Cup in four years. He was the only U Sports player selected to the 2023 East–West Shrine Bowl. Although projected to be a top pick in the 2023 CFL draft along with fellow UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, they both opted to return for a final season. In 2023, Benedet repeated as a first-team All-Canadian selection and as the winner of the J. P. Metras Trophy, becoming the first offensive lineman to win the trophy twice in a row; he also helped the Thunderbirds reach the Vanier Cup for the first time since 2015.

Professional career

Benedet was invited to the College Gridiron Showcase. In addition to being projected as a top pick for the 2024 CFL draft, he also received attention as a potential selection in the 2024 NFL draft. He was not selected in the NFL draft, but later signed with the

as a undrafted free agent. Benedet was later drafted in the second round (15th overall) by the

in the 2024 CFL draft. He was waived on August 27, and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 6, 2025.

References

External links

Chicago Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedet, Theo 2001 births Living people Canadian football offensive linemen Players of Canadian football from British Columbia Sportspeople from North Vancouver UBC Thunderbirds football players Chicago Bears players Players of American football from British Columbia American football offensive linemen