When it comes to the Los Angeles Rams, the biggest storyline of the summer hasn't been how the team would replace Aaron Donald, which young players are pushing their veteran counterparts, or even the one-two punch of Jared Verse and Braden Fiske coming in from Florida State but instead Stetson Bennett, the redshirt rookie quarterback who might just be the most polarizing player in Southern California.
To some, Bennett is an exciting young signal-caller who comes to LA with incredible collegiate pedigree and backed that up with an impressive, game-winning drive against the Cowboys in preseason Week 1, while others see a 26-year-old rookie who was away from the team last year and threw four interceptions in his first game back.
Sure, Bennett is a third-string quarterback and, as a result, probably won't play much, if at all, for the Rams this fall, but that doesn't change the fact that he could be the team's full-time backup of the future once Jimmy Garapolo's current deal expires at the end of the year.
Discussing what he's seen from Bennett in the feel proceeding his polarizing Week 1 effort against Dallas, Sean McVay noted how well the Georgia product has been able to handle himself during training camp, with his poise a big reason why he could succeed long-term.
“I think he has done a really good job. Even in the game, there were a lot of positives. Anytime you're a quarterback, and you turn the ball over, that's going to be a challenging situation to return from, but all we can do is the next right thing, and he did that on that last drive, and I was really impressed. He got a lot of reps yesterday that he wasn't planning on getting any reps. That was exclusively going to be Matthew [Stafford] and Jimmy [Garoppolo]. He steps in there. Some of the things that he's able to see and feel, and can articulate what he saw after the fact,” McVay told reporters on Thursday.
“There was a great example yesterday. They had a little bit of a mix-up in their coverage. A guy was playing a cloud (coverage), and his safety was overlapping to the three-receiver surface. He ends up seeing Tutu [Atwell] on something that… It's just like he has a great feel. It was an easy touchdown down the right sideline. I've been really pleased with just his responses. I think you guys saw that even when you talked to him after the game, and we were saying it on the headset. We weren't really surprised. Now, do we want to take better care of the football? Yeah, of course. The fact that he was able to just stay steady and be able to put together that drive where there were a lot of really good positive plays in the midst of that leading up to him being able to throw the touchdown to Miller Forristall, it was pretty impressive. I think [it was] even more impressive when you take into account the adversity that he faced throughout the course of the game.”
So if Bennett has the talent to be an NFL quarterback, with the arm strength and demeanor built for the position, what does he need to do to actually get there? Well, in the opinion of McVay, the answer is obvious: he needs to make better decisions.
The Rams want to see more consistency from Stetson Bennett
Asked what he wanted to see from Bennett over the next two weeks of preseason football, McVay laid it out rather plainly, with consistency, not heroics, the key to a long and fruitful career for the young Rams signal-caller.
“I think what you want to see is consistency. This is an imperfect game. The last thing you want is [for] guys to go out there and be afraid to make a mistake because you had a situation like that. That's not at all what we want, but you do want to make good consistent decisions. Sometimes, he might make a great play, and it might lead to a turnover if there's a ball that gets tipped, but that's not going to be something that would at all affect his process or the way that he's evaluated,” McVay told reporters.
“Now, if you're making reckless decisions in terms of… alright, your timing, your rhythm, and where the ball is going. Those are different conversations. This is a very difficult position that these guys play. These windows close fast. We want to be as consistent playing within the framework of what we're asking as possible while also understanding that the beauty is when things go a little bit off-schedule. Consistency in the decision-making is what we're looking to see.”
Over his four seasons at Georgia, Bennett was fairly safe with the football, throwing three or more interceptions in a game only once – versus Alabama all the way back in October of 2020 – while closing out his career with a roughly 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. If Bennett can trust his teammates and live to fight another day if nothing is open, who knows, maybe he could have a future with the Rams yet.
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