Former Riverside High and University of South Carolina running back Brandon Bennett believes that youth is wasted on the young.

After entering the NFL in 1995, Bennett spent six seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played with Tampa Bay briefly last season before signing with the Carolina Panthers in October.

Now a free agent, Bennett, 32, is getting the senior citizen treatment, as teams audition their fresh talent.

"It's a young man's game," Bennett said. "They can get a bunch of rookies and hope that one of them pans out to do something that I do. And they come out so much cheaper."

"Age shouldn't have anything to do with it," Bennett's former Panthers teammate Stephen Davis, 31, said when asked if his age would keep him from returning from a knee injury.

"Thirty is what (the media) has set as the age," he said. "It can still be done. Age is nothing."

Base salary for an NFL rookie is $230,000. The floor raises with each year in the league. A player who has played seven to nine seasons has a base salary of over $600,000.

"Teams are going to see if they can get some productivity out of the younger guys before they start forking out money for the veteran guys," Bennett said. "It's kind of hard. Before, I always knew I was going to be at camp and with the same team. Now, there is no certainty about anything."

Bennett has faith in his agent that he will land a team. Bennett has been with the same agent not only his entire career, but his entire life -- older brother Braylon, an agent for Vortex Sports and Entertainment.

"We've been hearing some positive feedback from people inquiring about his overall health, conditioning, and everything," Braylon Bennett said. "It's also a right place-right time thing. With the salary restraints of him being a tenured veteran, it just takes a little more time for teams to come to grips with their roster and cap space."

Brandon said that having Braylon as an agent has been the best possible situation.

"You get the real scoop," Brandon said. "A lot of agents try to sugar coat everything, because they don't want to hurt the player or lose the player. Whereas, my brother will just tell it like it is. If I need to do something, he'll tell me I need to do it."

The no-nonsense approach has kept Bennett productive. He finished his USC career as one of three Gamecocks to lead the team in rushing all four years. Bennett had to muscle his way into the NFL as an undrafted free agent. In 82 NFL games, he has compiled 4,575 all-purpose yards with eight total touchdowns.

"He came into this league hard," Braylon said. "He didn't come in behind a high draft pick or a pushy rookie contract. He came in the hard way and had to earn every year that he's stayed in the league."

"I've been in the league going on 10 years. That speaks for itself," Brandon said. "It's productivity, longevity, and ability. I've started kickoff, kickoff return and punt return on every team that I was with. Just knowing that I can play on this level -- I've been there."

Although Brandon has received a good word from several teams during the waiting process, there is one word that he hates to hear -- "BUT ..."

"You have to deal with (teams saying), 'Well, Brandon Bennett, he's 32 years old. He's been productive, BUT,'" he said. "Before it was just who is the best player. If you could play, you played.

"You run into a lot of mind games that can aggravate you about it. If we could just get out there and play ball, it'll be all good."