Stetson Bennett on deciding to return to football: 'That was probably piss or get off the pot'

Former Georgia star Stetson Bennett is back with the L.A. Rams after time away from the field last season. On Tuesday, he addressed his absence and subsequent return with the media after OTAs. One reporter asked Bennett how he knew he was ready to rejoin the Rams after taking a break for his mental health, which prompted a colorful answer.

“I’d say that was probably piss or get off the pot, you know you have to get back at some point,” Bennett said. “It’s hard to turn off whenever it gets going again. I saw it how I’ve always seen it, as just a beautiful game. You create relationships with your teammates and you go and compete against the best, and find out if you can, which I’m excited to get back to doing.”

The former Bulldog and national championship credited his love for the game for bringing him back. He now enters Year 2 of his young career with a renewed perspective of the game.

“Yup, yup, of course,” Bennett said. “I’ve loved this game since I grew up hearing my granddad telling me stories and trying to teach me something in the kitchen. So, I got back to that.”

Bennett to vie for backup role behind Matthew Stafford

Rams head coach Sean McVay addressed Bennett’s situation during the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, saying there would still be things to assess at the time. Though he said the team had no backup QB, they went on to acquire Jimmy Garoppolo.

“I think the first thing is you connect with him, which we’ll do that at the appropriate time and you figure out, where are you at and is this something that we feel like is best for him and for our football team to bring him back into this ecosystem?” McVay said. “Those will be conversations that we will have. And then, I think once we have a better idea of what we’ll do with that, then that will give clarity.

“But you do make sure that you know that right now, we’ve got Matthew Stafford. And really in our minds, we don’t have a backup quarterback that’s on this roster. But we’ll see what that looks like in terms of how that affects Stetson and the draft or free agency.”

Though Bennett threw behind Garoppolo at practice on Tuesday, there’s no telling what could happen in the quarterback competition this summer. The 26-year-old has experience from playing in the preseason but did not see a snap during the regular season.