Stetson Bennett opens up on what his time away from football did for him

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett took time away from football last season, and it was good for him. While speaking to reporters during OTAs on Tuesday, Bennett was asked what the reset did for him before returning to the Rams.

“Love football, excited to come out here every single day,” Bennett said. “You get to see the world for the first time without football, like the first time ever. What that might be like, you just don’t have it. You come out here and you’re hungry every single day. …It was different without it.”

Bennett, 26, was selected by the Rams in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft after having a historic career with the Georgia Bulldogs. He was placed on the reserve/non-football illness on Sept. 13 and was out for the entire season. Bennett returned to practice this week and told reporters he wanted to keep the reason he went away “in house.”

“I know this, last year was very beneficial for him,” Rams general Manager Les Snead told Channel 19 in Alabama. “I think he took advantage of that year away from the game. You know what, he’s an exhausted human being based on everything he had done. Let’s just take it as an individual — to walk on, to go to JUCO, to come back, to turn down small schools, say ‘I’m going to try to do this Georgia thing.’

“To win a job, then to win the thing, and then to determine, ‘I’m going to come back.’ And when you come back, it’s really win it again or you failed. And that does take a toll on a human being, so I was jacked for Stetson to be able to take that moment and breathe a little bit.”

Stetson Bennett earned a spot with the Rams after succesful college career

Bennett played his way to being selected by the Rams due to his success at Georgia. In his last two seasons as the Bulldogs starting QB, the team won two national titles and only lost one game during that span. The 2023 season was big for Bennett as he threw for 4,127 yards and 27 touchdowns while rushing for ann additional 10 scores. He won the Manning Award which is given to the best QB in the country and was a finalst for the Heisman Trophy.

Bennett will look to win the backup QB postion for the Rams. Starting QB Matthew Stafford, another Georgia alum, enters his 16th NFL season and fourth in Los Angeles.