Ray Bentley

Football Analyst

Ray Bentley is a football analyst for ESPN.  He joined the network in 2003 for college football telecasts and in 2007 added Arena Football League games to his responsibilities. 

Bentley played linebacker in the NFL for six seasons (1986-1991) with the Buffalo Bills and one year with the Cincinnati Bengals (1992).  Following his pro career, Bentley worked for Fox Sports for four years (1998-2001) as an NFL analyst and play-by-play announcer.  

Bentley served as general manager and head coach of the Arena Football’s Buffalo Destroyers for three seasons (2000-2002) before returning to the network ranks as a NBC analyst for AFL games (2003-2006).  In 2007, Bentley also served as play-by-play commentator for Buffalo Bills preseason games on the Bills Television Network.

Bentley played linebacker for Central Michigan University (1979-1982) where he studied English literature.  He left CMU one semester early to join the USFL, where he played three years for the Michigan Panthers (1983-1985) before moving onto the NFL ranks.  

Bentley resides in Grandville, Mich., where he coaches the Pee Wee league Grandville Dinosaurs football team that went undefeated in 2007.  Bentley has also written and published several children’s books featuring Darby the Dinosaur and Bubba Gator, including Shopping with Darby, Darby’s Christmas Adventure, Naptime for Darby, The Great Gator Princess, No More Hiccups and Nobody said Happy Birthday.